Call for papers: 14th International Conference on Deontic Logic and Normative Systems (DEON 2018)
3-6 July 2018, Utrecht, the Netherlands
The biennial DEON conferences are designed to promote interdisciplinary cooperation amongst scholars interested in linking the formal-logical study of normative concepts, normative language and normative systems with computer science, artificial intelligence, linguistics, philosophy, organization theory and law.
In addition to these general themes, DEON 2018 will encourage a special focus on the topic:
“Deontic reasoning for responsible AI”
There have been thirteen previous DEON conferences: Amsterdam, December 1991; Oslo, January 1994; Sesimbra, January 1996; Bologna, January 1998; Toulouse, January 2000; London, May 2002; Madeira, May 2004; Utrecht, July 2006; Luxembourg, July 2008; Fiesole, July 2010; Bergen, July 2012; Ghent, July 2014; Bayreuth, July 2016.
GENERAL THEMES
The Program Committee invites papers concerned with the following topics (non-exclusive list):
- the logical study of normative reasoning, including formal systems of deontic logic, defeasible normative reasoning, logics of action, logics of time, and other related areas of logic
- the formal analysis of normative concepts, normative systems (and their dynamics)
- the formal specification of aspects of norm-governed multi-agent systems and autonomous agents, including (but not limited to) the representation of rights, authorization, delegation, power, responsibility and liability
- the normative aspects of protocols for communication, negotiation and multi-agent decision making
- the formal analysis of the semantics and pragmatics of deontic and normative expressions in natural language
- the formal representation of legal knowledge
- the formal specification of normative systems for the management of bureaucratic processes in public or private administration applications of normative logic to the specification of database integrity constraints
- game theoretic aspects of deontic reasoning
- emergence of norms
- deontic paradoxes
- argumentation theory and normative reasoning
SPECIAL FOCUS
DEON 2018’s special focus is “Deontic reasoning for responsible AI”.
The successes of Artificial Intelligence over the last few years have brought to the fore a new and important application area for deontic logic: Responsible AI. On the one hand, this concerns systems for checking and proving responsibility characteristics of artificial intelligent agents and their designs, and on the other hand, it concerns responsible decision making and machine ethics. This DEON’s special theme « Deontic reasoning for responsible AI » solicits contributions that address issues related to these two subjects.
Topics of interest in this special theme include, but are not limited to:
- moral decision making
- norm awareness
- accountability
- explainability
- causal and probabilistic theories of responsibility
- operationalizations of ethical theories
- collective responsibility
- grades of responsibility
SUBMISSION DETAILS
Authors are invited to submit an original, previously unpublished, short research paper pertaining to any of these topics. The paper should be in English, and should be no longer than 15 pages when formatted according to the 12pt LaTeX specification that will be sent to all authors of accepted papers. The first page should contain the full name and contact information of at least one of the authors, and it should contain an abstract of no more than ten lines. Authors should submit their papers electronically using EasyChair:
https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=deon2018
Each submitted paper will be carefully peer-reviewed by a panel of PC members based on originality, significance, technical soundness, and clarity of exposition and relevance for the conference. For each accepted paper, at least one author is required to register for the conference and should plan to present the paper.
PUBLICATION
The proceedings will be published with College Publications. Copies of the proceedings will be provided to all participants. In addition, we anticipate that revised versions of selected papers from the workshop will subsequently be published in a special issue of the Journal of Applied Logic.
IMPORTANT DATES
Abstract Submission Deadline: February 25, 2018
Paper Submission Deadline: March 4, 2018
Notification: April 15, 2018
Camera Ready: May 7, 2018
CHAIRS OF THE PROGRAM COMMITTEE
Cleo Condoravdi, Stanford University
Shyam Nair, Arizona State University
Gabriella Pigozzi, Université Paris-Dauphine
CHAIR OF THE LOCAL ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
Jan Broersen, University of Utrecht