Inquiry dialogues inside a framework for persuasion

Abstract

This thesis is a comparison of a system for inquiry dialogues and a framework for persuasion dialogues in order to reconcile their differences, determine which differences cannot be reconciled and determine the cost of this reconciliation to their fundamental properties.

The systems that are compared are Prakken’s framework for persuasion dialogues and Black and Hunter’s system for inquiry dialogues. Two new systems are defined where the structure of Black and Hunter’s system is described using Prakken’s framework. In one of the systems, the structure of Black and Hunter’s system is adapted, while maintaining most of the fundamental properties. In the other system, Black and Hunter’s system is unchanged, and Prakken’s framework is adapted where necessary. For both systems, conversion functions are given and proofs are provided to show that dialogues in the systems are equivalent to dialogues in the original system.

From the two new systems, it is shown that inquiry and persuasion are closely related, and that both systems are capable of expressing both types of dialogue with a few specific alterations. Most research that has been done for persuasion dialogues is therefore likely to be applicable to inquiry dialogues as well.