---
title: "Opportunistic Processing in Arguments"
authors:
  - "Rod McGuire"
  - "Lawrence Birnbaum"
  - "Margot Flowers"
doi: ""
url: "https://ijcai.org/proceedings/1981/13"
pdf: "https://ijcai.org/proceedings/1981/0013.pdf"
venue: "Proceedings of the Seventh International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence"
year: 1981
pages: "58-59"
track: "Natural Language"
keywords:
---

# Opportunistic Processing in Arguments

Rod McGuire, Lawrence Birnbaum, Margot Flowers

*Proceedings of the Seventh International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence*, pages 58-59.

## Abstract

In two previous papers. we have proposed a part of a computational theory of argumentation, including representations for argument structure and rules for using those representations in understanding and in rebutting (Birnbaum et a/. (1980) and Flowers et a/. (I 98 I); related work includes Cohen (I 980)) . One property of the model which we emphasized is the way in which argument mechanisms and inferential memory can each help to direct the proce ss ing of the other. In particular, we presented examples in which inferential memory can uncover good rebuttals to an input as a side-effect of the processing that naturally goes on in trying to understand that input. When such opportunities for rebuttal are noticed during understanding, they render unnecessary the use of argument rules to find a response. since one has already been di scove red.