{"type":"ScholarlyArticle","title":"Directed Constraint Networks: A Relational Framework for Causal Modeling","authors":[{"name":"Rina Dechter","slug":"rina-dechter","given":"Rina","family":"Dechter","affiliation":""},{"name":"Judea Pearl","slug":"judea-pearl","given":"Judea","family":"Pearl","affiliation":""}],"abstract":"Normally, constraint networks are undirected, since constraints merely tell us which sets of values are compatible, and compatibility is a symmetrical relationship. In contrast, causal models use directed links, conveying cause-effect asymmetries. In this paper we give a relational semantics to this directionality, thus explaining why prediction is easy while diagnosis and planning are hard. We use this semantics to show that certain relations possess intrinsic directionalities, similar to those characterizing causal influences. We also use this semantics to decide when and how an unstructured set of symmetrical constraints can be configured so as to form a directed causal theory","doi":null,"url":"https://ijcai.org/proceedings/1991/171","pdf":"https://ijcai.org/proceedings/1991/0171.pdf","markdown":"https://ijcai.org/proceedings/1991/171.md","bibtex":"https://ijcai.org/proceedings/1991/bibtex/171","volume":{"slug":"1991","title":"Proceedings of the Twelfth International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence","short_title":"IJCAI 1991","url":"https://ijcai.org/proceedings/1991/","year":1991,"location":"Sydney, New South Wales, Australia","dates":"24-30 August 1991","editors":"John Mylopoulos and Ray Reiter","isbn":"","publisher":"International Joint Conferences on Artificial Intelligence","doi_prefix":""},"section":"Qualitative Reasoning","track":"Qualitative Reasoning","number":171,"pages":{"first":1164,"last":1169},"keywords":[],"videos":[],"references":[],"license_note":"Copyright International Joint Conferences on Artificial Intelligence."}