Automating the synthesis of decision procedures

We present an approach to the automatic construction of decision procedures , via a detailed example in propositional logic. The approach adapts the methods of proof-planning, and particularly the technique of rippling BSvH + 93], to a new domain, that of meta-theoretic procedures. This approach starts by providing an alternative characterisation of validity; the proofs of the correctness of this characterisation, and the existence of a decision procedure, are then both amenable to automation in the way we describe. In this paper, the object logic is characterised semantically; as this characterisation is inherently recursive, we believe that the rippling technique is well suited to guide the automation of reasoning about logics presented in this way. Declaration: This paper has not already been accepted by and is not currently under review for a journal or another conference. Nor will it be submitted for such during IJCAI's review period.