A Formalization of Defeasible Argumentation using a Labeled Deductive System

In the last years there has been an increasing demand of a variety of logical systems, prompted mostly by applications of logic in AI, logic programming and other related areas. Labeled Deductive Systems (LDS) were developed as a flexible methodology to formalize such a kind of complex logical systems. In the last decade, defeasible argumentation has proven to be a confluence point for many approaches to formalizing commonsense reasoning. Different formalisms have been developed, many of them sharing common features. This paper summarizes the relevant features of an argumentative LDS, in which the main issues concerning defeasible argumentation are captured within a unified logical framework. The proposed framework is defined in two stages. First, defeasible inference will be formalized by characterizing a defeasible LDS. That system will be then extended in order to obtain an argumentative LDS.