A Dynamic Logic Framework for Abstract Argumentation

ABSTRACT. We provide a logical analysis of abstract argumentation frameworks and their dynamics. Following previous work, we express attack relation and argument status by means of propositional variables and define acceptability criteria by formulas of propositional logic. We here study the dynamics of argumentation frameworks in terms of basic operations on these propositional variables, viz. change of their truth values. We describe these operations in a uniform way within a well-known variant of Propositional Dynamic Logic PDL: the Dynamic Logic of Propositional Assignments, DL-PA. The atomic programs of DL-PA are assignments of propositional variables to truth values, and complex programs can be built by means of the connectives of sequential and nondeterministic composition and test. We start by showing that in DL-PA, the construction of extensions can be performed by a DL-PA program that is parametrized by the definition of acceptance. We then mainly focus on how the acceptance of one or more arguments can be enforced and show that this can be achieved by changing the truth values of the propositional variables describing the attack relation in a minimal way.