Building a Pragmatic Methodology for KR Tool Research and Development

Abstract

Reviewing the evidence of CG-tool research and development in conference papers, we find little attention devoted to the issues and institution of scientific methodology, and only vague awareness of how that deficiency impairs progress. To focus attention and improve awareness, we briefly de-lineate the evolution of C.S. Peirce’s theory of inquiry toward Eduard Hovy’s general methodology for research, tracing from Peirce’s early pragmatism to his "conditional idealism." We claim that methodological theory suggests a prag-matic method for KR research and tool advancement, in the form of an open-ended game somewhat like a child’s game of building blocks, in which the forms of the "blocks" would be propositional rather than physical, with conditional propositions establishing the "dimensions," in place of the physical dimensions of blocks. The constraints would be logical and evidential (factual) rather than geometrical and gravitational (forceful). We challenge the entire Conceptual Structures community to help build a truly pragmatic methodology.