Are My Arguments Trustworthy? Abstract Argumentation with Subjective Logic

Francesco Santini, Audun Jøsang, Maria Silvia Pini

Abstract: An Abstract Argumentation Framework (AAF) is an abstract structure consisting of a set arguments, whose origin, nature, and possible internal organisation is not specified, and by a binary relation of attack on the set of arguments, whose meaning is not specified either. Subjective logic provides a standard set of logical operators, intended for use in domains containing uncertainty. In this paper, we define an extension of AAFs in which each argument and attacks is evaluated with an opinion, by revisiting the constellations approach developed for probabilistic AAFs. In this way, different agents can merge their opinions on how much arguments and attacks are “trustworthy”, e.g., they do not represent fallacies or enthymemes. Finally, subjective logic operators can be used to fuse the belief of different possible worlds (i.e., a constellation of sub-graphs in the original AAF) containing different arguments and attacks.