{"type":"ScholarlyArticle","title":"The Origin, Form, and Logic of Qualitative Physical Laws","authors":[{"name":"John Seely Brown","slug":"john-seely-brown","given":"John Seely","family":"Brown","affiliation":"XEROX PARC Cognitive and I nsmtctional Sciences 3333 Coyote Hill Road Palo Alto. California 94304 ."},{"name":"Johan de Kleer","slug":"johan-de-kleer","given":"Johan","family":"de Kleer","affiliation":"XEROX PARC Cognitive and I nsmtctional Sciences 3333 Coyote Hill Road Palo Alto. California 94304 ."}],"abstract":"R~c~ntly there has been a great deal of interest within the .\\rtificial lntdligcnce community in dc1cloping a qualitati1e physics (e.g .. qualitatil c process theory. em isioning. naive ph) sics) that predicts and explains the beha1 ior of mechanisms in qualitative terms . The goals for the qualitati1e physics are (1} to be far simpler than classical physics and yet retain all the important distinctions (e.g .. state, oscillation. gain. momentum) without invoking the mathematics of continuously var.ing quantities and differential equations. (2} to produce causal accounts of physical mechanisms that are easy to understand, and (3} to provide the foundations for common-sense models for the next generation of expert systems. This paper consists of three parts. First. we present a framework for understanding and unifying the various approaches :o qualitative physics as well >~S posing certain criteria that such a physics should satisfy. Second, we compare and contrast three approaches to qualitative physics. Finally, we explore the use of proof as explanation and the role reducrio ad absurdum plays in qualitative arguments in physics.","doi":null,"url":"https://ijcai.org/proceedings/1983/267","pdf":"https://ijcai.org/proceedings/1983/0267.pdf","markdown":"https://ijcai.org/proceedings/1983/267.md","bibtex":"https://ijcai.org/proceedings/1983/bibtex/267","volume":{"slug":"1983","title":"Proceedings of the Eighth International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence","short_title":"IJCAI 1983","url":"https://ijcai.org/proceedings/1983/","year":1983,"location":"Karlsruhe, West Germany","dates":"","editors":"Alan Bundy","isbn":"","publisher":"International Joint Conferences on Artificial Intelligence","doi_prefix":""},"section":"General","track":"General","number":267,"pages":{"first":1158,"last":1168},"keywords":[],"videos":[],"references":[{"position":1,"raw":"es,\" to appear in Fonna/ Theories of the Common-Sense World, edited by Jerry Hobbes and Bob Moore, Ablex, 1983.","title":"to appear in Fonna/ Theories of the Common-Sense World","authors":"Es","year":"1983","venue":null,"doi":null,"url":null,"internal_url":null},{"position":2,"raw":"de Kleer, J. and J.S.Brown, \"Assumptions and Ambigu ities in Mechanis- tic Mental Models,\" to appear in Mental Models, edited by D. 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Anderson, Erlbaum, 1981.","title":null,"authors":"J R Anderson","year":"1981","venue":null,"doi":null,"url":null,"internal_url":null},{"position":5,"raw":"de Kleer, J., \"Causal and Teleological Reasoning in Circuit Recog- nition,\" Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, TR-529, Cambridge: M.I.T., 1979.","title":"Causal and Teleological Reasoning in Circuit Recognition","authors":"J De Kleer","year":"1979","venue":"Artificial Intelligence Laboratory","doi":null,"url":null,"internal_url":null},{"position":6,"raw":"Forbus, K.D. and A. Stevens, \"Using Qualitative Simulation to Gen- erate Explanations,\" Report No. 4490, Bolt Beranek and Newman Inc., 1981.","title":"Using Qualitative Simulation to Generate Explanations","authors":"K D Forbus, A Stevens","year":"1981","venue":null,"doi":null,"url":null,"internal_url":null},{"position":7,"raw":"Forbus, K.D., \"Qualitative Process Theory,\" Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, AIM-664, Cambridge: M.I.T., 1982.","title":"Qualitative Process Theory","authors":"K D Forbus","year":"1982","venue":"Artificial Intelligence Laboratory","doi":null,"url":null,"internal_url":null},{"position":8,"raw":"Forbus, K.D., \"Qualitative Reasoning about Physical Processes,\" Proce~ dings of the Seventh International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, pp. 326-330, 1981.","title":"Qualitative Reasoning about Physical Processes","authors":"K D Forbus","year":"1981","venue":"Proce~ dings of the Seventh International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence","doi":null,"url":null,"internal_url":"/proceedings/1981/64"},{"position":9,"raw":"Ha)es. P.J .. \"The 1\\aive Physics Manifesto.\"\" in E.xperr Sysrems in rhe Microe/ecrronic Age. edit~d by D. t-.1ichie. Edinburgh University Press. 1979.","title":"The 1\\aive Physics Manifesto","authors":"P J Ha)es","year":"1979","venue":"E.xperr Sysrems in rhe Microe/ecrronic Age","doi":null,"url":null,"internal_url":null},{"position":10,"raw":"Kuipers. B .. '\"Getting the Emisionment Right.\"' Proceedings of rhe Narional Conference on Arrificia/ lnrelligence. pp. 209-212, 1982.","title":"Getting the Emisionment Right","authors":"B Kuipers","year":"1982","venue":"Proceedings of rhe Narional Conference on Arrificia/ lnrelligence","doi":null,"url":null,"internal_url":null},{"position":11,"raw":"Kuipers, B .. ••commonsense Reasoning About Causality: Deriving Behavior from Structure,\" Tufts University Working Papers in Cogni- tive Science No. 18. May 1982.","title":"commonsense Reasoning About Causality: Deriving Behavior from Structure","authors":"B Kuipers","year":"1982","venue":null,"doi":null,"url":null,"internal_url":null},{"position":12,"raw":"Williams. M .. J. Hollan and A. Stevens,\"Human Reasoning about a Simple Physical System,\" to appear in A/ental Models, edited by D.Gentner and A.S. Stevens, Erlbaum, 1983.","title":"Human Reasoning about a Simple Physical System","authors":"M J Williams, A Hollan, Stevens","year":"1983","venue":"to appear in A/ental Models","doi":null,"url":null,"internal_url":null}],"license_note":"Copyright International Joint Conferences on Artificial Intelligence."}