Towards the generation of rebuttals in a Bayesian Argumentation System

Abstract

We describe a mechanism which generates rebuttals to a user's rejoinders in the context of arguments generated from Bayesian networks. This mechanism is implemented in an interactive argumentation system. Given an argument generated by the system and an interpretation of a user's rejoinder, the generation of the rebuttal takes into account the intended effect of the user's rejoinder, determined on a model of the user's beliefs, and its actual effect, determined on a model of the system's beliefs. We consider three main rebuttal strategies: refute the user's rejoinder, strengthen the argument goal, and dismiss the user's line of reasoning.