Open Default Theories over Closed Domains

• Authors: Michael Kaminski
• Venue: ECSQARU '95 Proceedings of the European Conference on Symbolic and Quantitative Approaches to Reasoning and Uncertainty
• Year: 1999

We compare two approaches to the meaning of a free variable x in an open default α(x): Mβ1(x),..., Mβm(x)/γ(x). The first treats x as a metavariable for the ground terms of the underlying theory, whereas the second threats it as a "name" of arbitrary elements of the theory universe. We show that, for normal default theories, under the domain closure assumption, the two approaches are equivalent. In the general case, the approaches are equivalent in the presence of both the domain closure assumption and the unique name assumption.