Assumption-based Argumentation Dialogues

Abstract

Formal argumentation based dialogue models have attracted some research interests recently. Within this line of research, we propose a formal model for argumentation-based dialogues between agents, using assumption-based argumentation (ABA). Thus, the dialogues amount to conducting an argumentation process in ABA. The model is given in terms of ABA-specific utterances, debate trees and forests implicitly built during and drawn from dialogues, legal-move functions (amounting to protocols) and outcome functions. Moreover, we investigate the strategic behaviour of agents in dialogues, using strategy-move functions. We instantiate our dialogue model in a range of dialogue types studied in the literature, including information-seeking, inquiry, persuasion, conflict resolution, and discovery. Finally, we prove (1) a formal connection between dialogues and well-known argumentation semantics, and (2) soundness and completeness results for our dialogue models and dialogue strategies used in different dialogue types