In
philosophy
Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, Epistemology, knowledge, Ethics, values, Philosophy of mind, mind, and Philosophy of language, language. Such quest ...
and
AI (especially,
knowledge-based systems), the qualification problem is concerned with the impossibility of listing ''all'' the
preconditions required for a real-world action to have its intended effect.
It might be posed as ''how to deal with the things that prevent me from achieving my intended result''. It is strongly connected to, and opposite the
ramification side of, the
frame problem.
John McCarthy gives the following motivating example,
in which it is impossible to enumerate all the circumstances that may prevent a rowboat from performing its ordinary function:
:"
e successful use of a boat to cross a river requires, if the boat is a rowboat, that the oars and rowlocks be present and unbroken, and that they fit each other. Many other qualifications can be added, making the rules for using a rowboat almost impossible to apply, and yet anyone will still be able to think of additional requirements not yet stated."
See also
*
Non-monotonic logic
*
Circumscription
References
External links
* John McCarthy
Introduction: The Qualification Problem
Knowledge representation
Logic programming
Epistemology
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