Embedding nonground logic programs into autoepistemic logic for knowledge-base combination

Abstract

In the context of the Semantic Web, several approaches for combining ontologies, given in terms of theories of classical first-order logic and rule bases, have been proposed. They either cast rules into classical logic or limit the interaction between rules and ontologies. Autoepistemic logic (AEL) is an attractive formalism which allows overcoming these limitations by serving as a uniform host language to embed ontologies and nonmonotonic logic programs into it. For the latter, so far only the propositional setting has been considered. In this article, we present three embeddings of normal and three embeddings of disjunctive nonground logic programs under the stable model semantics into first-order AEL. While all embeddings correspond with respect to objective ground atoms, differences arise when considering nonatomic formulas and combinations with first-order theories. We compare the embeddings with respect to stable expansions and autoepistemic consequences, considering the embeddings by themselves, as well as combinations with classical theories. Our results reveal differences and correspondences of the embeddings, and provide useful guidance in the choice of a particular embedding for knowledge combination