Tackling Temporal Deontic Challenges with Equilibrium Logic

Davide Soldà (TU Wien), Pedro Cabalar (University of A Coruña), Agata Ciabattoni (TU Wien), Emery Neufeld (TU Wien)

Abstract

Combining temporal reasoning with normative requirements presents significant challenges. In this paper, we tackle the most relevant challenges in the literature from a computational perspective, using Answer Set Programming (ASP). We integrate Temporal Equilibrium Logic, the foundation of Temporal ASP, with Deontic Equilibrium Logic with Explicit Negation, to reason about norms in a temporal context. Our approach is validated by: (i) addressing key benchmarks for temporal normative systems, providing (ii) a normal form reduction that enables the use of existing tools, and (iii) a polynomial LTL reduction for a relevant logic fragment.