Neuro-Symbolic Logical Reasoning with Textual Entailment

Sadeddine, Zacchary; Suchanek, Fabian

doi:10.24963/ijcai.2026/989

Neuro-Symbolic Logical Reasoning with Textual Entailment

Zacchary Sadeddine, Fabian Suchanek

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Proceedings of the Thirty-Fifth International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence. Demo Track. Pages 8501-8504.

https://doi.org/10.24963/ijcai.2026/989

Keywords

AI: Natural Language Processing
AI: Knowledge Representation and Reasoning

Abstract

Large Language Models can use logical deduction to answer natural language questions, but they remain black-boxes with potentially erroneous chains-of-thought. In this paper, we adapt VANESSA, a neuro-symbolic method for chain-of-thought verification, to reasoning-based question answering. VANESSA combines a logical reasoner with a neural textual entailment model to handle phrasing variations. Building on VANESSA, we develop a transparent, logic-based approach to answer natural language questions even with phrase variations. Our experiments across various datasets show our method is competitive with the state of the art, while also delivering proof trees for its answers. A demo interface allows users to interact with the system.

Zacchary Sadeddine, and Fabian Suchanek. 2026. Neuro-Symbolic Logical Reasoning with Textual Entailment. In Proceedings of the Thirty-Fifth International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, IJCAI-26. IJCAI, 8501–8504. https://doi.org/10.24963/ijcai.2026/989

@inproceedings{ijcai2026p989,
  title     = {Neuro-Symbolic Logical Reasoning with Textual Entailment},
  author    = {Sadeddine, Zacchary and Suchanek, Fabian},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the Thirty-Fifth International Joint Conference on
               Artificial Intelligence, {IJCAI-26}},
  publisher = {International Joint Conferences on Artificial Intelligence Organization},
  editor    = {Diego Calvanese},
  pages     = {8501--8504},
  year      = {2026},
  month     = {8},
  note      = {Demo Track},
  doi       = {10.24963/ijcai.2026/989},
  url       = {https://doi.org/10.24963/ijcai.2026/989},
}

TY  - CPAPER
TI  - Neuro-Symbolic Logical Reasoning with Textual Entailment
AU  - Sadeddine, Zacchary
AU  - Suchanek, Fabian
T2  - Proceedings of the Thirty-Fifth International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, IJCAI-26
PB  - International Joint Conferences on Artificial Intelligence Organization
PY  - 2026
SP  - 8501
EP  - 8504
DO  - 10.24963/ijcai.2026/989
UR  - https://doi.org/10.24963/ijcai.2026/989
ER  -