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6Robot shaping: developing autonomous agents through learningArtificial Intelligence 71 (2): 321-370. 1994.
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8Steps to a Naturalistic Account of Human DeontologyProtoSociology 35 21-37. 2018.In this paper we outline a theory of human deontology from a naturalistic perspective. In doing so we aim to explain how human beings deal with deontic relations (like obligations and rights) thanks to a specialised psychological infrastructure, which evolved to support human cooperation. This infrastructure includes a repertoire of emotions that play a crucial role in evaluating the conformity of actions relative to a deontic relation, in displaying an agent’s attitude toward their own actions …Read more
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43Interpersonal Communication as Social ActionPhilosophy of the Social Sciences 45 (4-5): 407-423. 2015.We compare a number of influential approaches to human communication with the aim of understanding what it means for interpersonal communication to be a form of social action. In particular, we discuss the large-scale social normativity advocated by speech act theory, the view of communication as small-scale social interaction proper of Gricean approaches, and the intimate connection between communication and cooperation defended by Tomasello. We then argue in favor of a small-scale view of comm…Read more
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25Guest editorial: Marco Somalvico memorial issueIn L. Magnani (ed.), Computational Intelligence, . pp. 25--2. 2009.
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45Conversation and Behavior Games in the Pragmatics of DialogueCognitive Science 17 (2): 197-256. 1993.In this article we present the bases for a computational theory of the cognitive processes underlying human communication. The core of the article is devoted to the analysis of the phases in which the process of comprehension of a communicative act can be logically divided: (1) literal meaning, where the reconstruction of the mental states literally expressed by the actor takes place: (2) speaker's meaning, where the partner reconstructs the communicative intentions of the actor; (3) communicati…Read more
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84Interpersonal responsibilities and communicative intentionsPhenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences 13 (1): 145-159. 2014.When they interact in everyday situations, people constantly create new fragments of social reality: they do so when they make promises or agreements, but also when they submit requests or answer questions, when they greet each other or express gratitude. This type of social reality ‘in the small,’ that we call interpersonal reality, is deontic in nature as all other kinds of social reality; what makes it somewhat special is that its deontology applies to the very same persons who create it thro…Read more
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7Communication languages for multiagent systemsIn L. Magnani (ed.), Computational Intelligence, . pp. 25--2. 2009.Agent Communication Languages (ACLs) have recently acquired a primary role in open multiagent systems, which need a standard communication framework shared by all interacting heterogeneous agents. According to the most important ACL standard proposals so far, agents are supposed to carry out the communication process by performing actions of a specific type, namely, communicative acts, whose semantics is defined in terms of the agents’ mental states. Although following the mainstream guidelines …Read more
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13A modal logic of intentional communicationMathematical Social Sciences 38 171-196. 1999.I propose a propositional modal logic of intentional communication, a circular concept which develops an idea by Airenti, Bara and Colombetti (1993). A communication operator is added to a multi-modal language of individual belief, common belief, and intention, and its possible world semantics is justified through a fixpoint construction. A normal modal system for the communication operator is defined, and shown to be sound and complete. Within this framework, I prove some properties of intentio…Read more
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32Creating interpersonal reality through conversational interactionsIn Michael Schmitz, Beatrice Kobow & Hans Bernhard Schmid (eds.), The Background of Social Reality, Springer. pp. 91--104. 2013.We understand interpersonal reality as consisting of those social facts that are informally created by people for themselves in everyday interactions, and involve the collective acceptance of positive and negative deontic powers. We submit that, in the case of interpersonal reality, Gilbert’s concept of a joint commitment is a suitable view of what collective acceptance amounts to. We then argue that creating interpersonal reality, even in common everyday-life situations, typically requires conv…Read more
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56Artificial institutions: A model of institutional reality for open multiagent systems (review)Artificial Intelligence and Law 16 (1): 89-105. 2008.Software agents’ ability to interact within different open systems, designed by different groups, presupposes an agreement on an unambiguous definition of a set of concepts, used to describe the context of the interaction and the communication language the agents can use. Agents’ interactions ought to allow for reliable expectations on the possible evolution of the system; however, in open systems interacting agents may not conform to predefined specifications. A possible solution is to define i…Read more
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Politecnico di MilanoRegular Faculty
Areas of Interest
Philosophy of Action |
Philosophy of Language |
Social and Political Philosophy |