Progic 2007 | Jon Williamson

Special focus: probabilistic logics and probabilistic networks

5-7 September 2007
Keynes College Lecture Room 2, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK
(N6 on this map)

Introduction

There are a plethora of views as to the relationship between probability and logic and a panoply of proposals for combining the two. In particular, probabilistic logics offer formal combinations of probability and logic – often, however, at the expense of perspicuity and tractability. The question arises as to whether probabilistic networks might be used to render probabilistic logics more comprehensible and computationally feasible.

In this workshop we aim to bring researchers from a variety of disciplines together to assess the prospects of applying probabilistic networks to probabilistic logics, and more generally to elucidate the relationship between probability and logic. We hope that the themes of the workshop will be of interest to mathematicians, logicians, philosophers, computer scientists, statisticians, psychologists and engineers, for example.

Invited speakers include:
Gert de Cooman, Fabio Cozman, Pedro Domingos, Lise Getoor, Stephan Hartmann, Colin Howson, Manfred Jaeger, David Makinson, Jeff Paris. Linda van der Gaag can no longer attend because of illness.

We invite submissions of two-page extended abstracts of talks for presentation at the workshop.

There will also be a special issue of the Journal of Applied Logic devoted to the themes of this workshop. We invite submission of papers to this volume.

Example Questions

How is probability related to logic?
Should probability and logic be combined at all?
How can probabilistic networks be used to simplify probabilistic logics?
Which interpretations of probability best fit its application to probabilistic logic?
What are the potential applications of probabilistic logic?
To what extent do different applications demand different probabilistic logics?
Which probabilistic logics offer the most potential?
Do probabilistic logics require precise or imprecise probabilities?

Timetable

1st May 2007: deadline for submission of titles and two-page abstracts of papers for presentation
- To be emailed to f.russo@kent.ac.uk
- Please say whether you would be prepared to submit your paper to a special issue of the Journal of Applied Logic on this topic.
1st June 2007: notification of acceptance of papers for presentation.
15th June 2007: deadline for receipt of early-bird registration to attend the conference.
- Register by posting the conference fee of 20 pounds sterling together with your name, address, phone number and email address to
  - Federica Russo, Philosophy, SECL, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent CT2 7NF, UK
- Please make out cheques to UNIKENT, with `Conference: progic07′ on the reverse side.
- Payment by bank transfer is also possible: email f.russo@kent.ac.uk for details.
- Please also send an email to f.russo@kent.ac.uk to say that you will be attending.
- If registering after 15th June the fee is 30 pounds. Please proceed as above sending a cheque for this amount.
1st July 2007: deadline for submission of full papers for publication
- To be emailed to f.russo@kent.ac.uk
5-7th September 2007: conference.
1st October 2007: notification of acceptance of papers for publication.
1st November 2007: deadline for final version of papers accepted for publication.

Programme

Abstracts of all talks can be found here.

Wednesday 5 September

9.00-9.30 Registration & introduction
9.30-10.15 Invited speaker: David Makinson – How different are quantitative and qualitative consequence relations for uncertain reasoning? (Joint work with Jim Hawthorne)
10.15-10.45 Bert Leuridan – Two logics for causal discovery
- Coffee (Dolce Vite Cafe)
11.15-11.45 Amit Pundik – What Went Wrong in the Case of Sally Clark?
11.45-12.30 Invited speaker: Jeff Paris – Relevance and irrelevance in inductive logic (joint work with Pete Waterhouse)
- Lunch
2.00-2.45 Invited speaker: Manfred Jaeger – Towards a (Model) Theory for Probabilistic Logical Models
2.45-3.15 Joana Hois – Towards Combining Ontologies and Uncertain Knowledge
- Coffee (Dolce Vite Cafe)
3.45-4.15 Ondrej Majer – Probabilistic extension of IF logic (joint work with Tero Tulenheimo)
4.15-5.00 Invited speaker: Lise Getoor – Statistical Relational Learning
- Conference dinner (Old Weaver’s Restaurant, 1 St Peter’s Street) £28.50 per person
  - Starters: Soup of the day / Potato skins / Mozzarella avocado salad / Battered calamari
  - Main Course: Turkey & Cranberry pie / Steak and Guinness pie / Battered cod / Chicken and bacon BBQ / Roast lamb / Vegetarian lasagne
  - Desserts: Apple pie and ice cream / Cheesecake / Treacle sponge and custard
  - Followed by tea or coffee. Half bottle of house wine per person is included. Menu choice to f.russo@kent.ac.uk by 1st September please.

Thursday 6 September

9.30-10.15 Invited speaker: Fabio Cozman – Independence Relations in Probabilistic Logic (joint work with Cassio Polpo de Campos and Jose Eduardo Ochoa Luna)
10.15-10.45 Marco Valtorta – Logic and Probabilistic Reasoning to Support Information Analysis in Uncertain Domains (joint work with Michael Huhns and John Byrnes)
- Coffee (Dolce Vite Cafe)
11.15-11.45 Ulrike Hahn – The Relationship between Probability and Logic in Argumentation (joint work with Mike Oaksford)
11.45-12.30 Invited speaker: Stephan Hartmann – Merging judgements and the problem of truth-tracking (joint work with Gabriella Pigozzi)
- Lunch
2.15-3.15 progicnet session: Rolf Haenni – Probabilistic Logic and Probabilistic Networks (joint work with Jan-Willem Romeijn, Gregory Wheeler and Jon Williamson)
- Coffee (Dolce Vite Cafe)
3.45-4.15 Gábor Hullám – A probabilistic logic incorporating posteriors of hierarchic graphical models (joint work with Andras Millinghoffer and Peter Antal)

Friday 7 September

9.30-10.15 Invited speaker: Gert de Cooman – Belief structures as an abstract framework for studying formal aspects of uncertain reasoning
10.15-10.45 Olivier Teytaud – Inductive-Deductive Systems: A mathematical logic and statistical learning perspective (joint work with Nicolas Baskiotis and Michele Sebag)
- Coffee (Dolce Vite Cafe)
11.15-11.45 Jan Sprenger – Statistics between inductive logic and empirical science
11.45-12.30 Invited speaker: Colin Howson – Combining Probability and Logic: Some Questions
- Lunch
2.00-2.45 Invited speaker: Pedro Domingos – Markov Logic: A Simple and Powerful Unification of Logic and Probability (Joint work with Stanley Kok, Daniel Lowd, Hoifung Poon, Matt Richardson, Parag Singla, Marc Sumner, and Jue Wang.)
2.45-3.15 Gernot Kleiter – Framing human inference by coherence based probability logic (joint work with Niki Pfeifer)
- Coffee (Dolce Vite Cafe)
3.45-4.45 Round table: The normative status of progic and its relation to decision (facilitators: Jan Willem Romeijn and Gregory Wheeler)

Local Information

There are many hotels and guest houses within easy reach of the University. Consult Tourist information or Around Canterbury for general tourist information, and here for bargain hotel rates.

Internet access: to get internet access at the university (wireless access is limited), apply at Computing Service Reception (the fee is 10 pounds). Visitors from UK universities may be able to connect via Janet roaming. There is also an internet cafe in Canterbury.

Don’t miss the other important world congress, nearby in Brighton on 1st September. The winners.

Previous Progics

The First Workshop on Combining Probability and Logic was held at King’s College London in 2002.
A special issue of the Journal of Applied Logic 1(3-4), 2003, was devoted to the themes of the workshop.

The Second Workshop on Combining Probability and Logic was held at the London School of Economics in 2005.
A special issue of the Journal of Logic, Language and Information, 15(1-2), 2006, was devoted to the themes of the workshop.

Organisation

This conference is organised by Federica Russo, Jon Williamson, Rolf Haenni Sola, Jan-Willem Romeijn and Gregory Wheeler as a part of the progicnet academic network.

Acknowledgments

We are very grateful to the The Leverhulme Trust, the British Society for the Philosophy of Science, the British Logic Colloquium and the Kent Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities for providing financial support.