Chapter 2 Computational Aspects of Concept Invention

In this chapter, we present a computational framework that models concept invention. The framework is based on and extends conceptual blending. Apart from the blending mechanism modeling the creation of new concepts, the framework considers two extra dimensions, namely, origin and destination. For the former, we describe how a Rich Background supports the discovery of input concepts to be blended. For the latter, we show how arguments, promoting or demoting the values of an audience, to which the invention is headed, can be used to evaluate the candidate blends created.We also address the problem of how newly invented concepts are evaluated with respect to a Rich Background so as to decide which of them are to be accepted into a system of familiar concepts, and how this, in turn, may affect the previously accepted conceptualisation. As technique to tackle this problem we explore the applicability of Paul Thagard’s computational theory of coherence, in particular, his notion of conceptual coherence. The process model is exemplified using two structured representation languages, namely order-sorted feature terms and description logic.

Authors and Affiliations

1. Faculty of Computer Science, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Dominikanerplatz 3, 39100, Bozen-Bolzano, Italy

   Roberto Confalonieri

2. Artificial Intelligence Research Institute, Spanish National Research Council (IIIA-CSIC), Campus UAB, c/ Can Planes s/n, 08193, Bellaterra, Catalonia, Spain

   Enric Plaza & Marco Schorlemmer

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Roberto Confalonieri .

Editors and Affiliations

1. Smart Data Factory, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Bolzano, Italy

   Roberto Confalonieri

2. School of Computing, University of Dundee, Dundee, UK

   Alison Pease

3. Artificial Intelligence Research Institute, Spanish National Research Council, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain

   Marco Schorlemmer

4. TZI, Digital Media Lab, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany

   Tarek R. Besold

5. KRDB Research Center, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Bolzano, Italy

   Oliver Kutz

6. School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

   Ewen Maclean

7. School of Music Studies, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece

   Maximos Kaliakatsos-Papakostas

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