A Logic of Action, Causality, and the Temporal Relations of Events

In this paper, we propose a logic of action and causality. The most important part of our contribution is a semantics that integrates action, temporal structure, and probability. The semantics is based on a mathematical structure called an event space. This space is inhabited by situations or instantaneous events with binary relations over them. The temporal relations within an event space include several relations that di erent authors have labeled \cause." Our language does not single out any one of them under this name and therefore avoids any appearance of reliance on some mysterious relation of causality that goes beyond the facts about the world and about how its evolution is best predicted.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 1998
• Where: TIME
• Authors: Richard B. Scherl, Glenn Shafer
• Keywords: Automated Reasoning, Event Space, Semantics, Temporal Structure, TIME 1998