Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 July 2009
This paper attempts to assess the practical utility of nonmonotonic logic in diagnostic problem solving. We begin with a brief review of the main assumptions which motivate work in this area, and discuss two logic-based approaches which involve nonmonotonic arguments. Then we consider two recent proposals for the application of default logic to diagnosis, as well as a proposal based on counterfactual logic. In conclusion, we briefly compare these methods with other diagnostic reasoning paradigms found in the Artificial Intelligence literature.