Paper

Inferring Inferences: Relational Propositions for Argument Mining

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Abstract

Inferential reasoning is an essential feature of argumentation. Therefore, a method for mining discourse for inferential structures would be of value for argument analysis and assessment. The logic of relational propositions is a procedure for rendering texts as expressions in propositional logic directly from their rhetorical structures. From rhetorical structures, relational propositions are defined, and from these propositions, logical expressions are then generated. There are, however, unsettled issues associated with Rhetorical Structure Theory (RST), some of which are problematic for inference mining. This paper takes a deep dive into some of these issues, with the aim of elucidating the problems and providing guidance for how they may be resolved.

Keywords: coherence relations, logical inference; relational propositions, rhetorical structure theory, argumentation, logical inference, relational propositions

How to Cite:

Potter, A., (2022) “Inferring Inferences: Relational Propositions for Argument Mining”, Society for Computation in Linguistics 5(1), 89-100. doi: https://doi.org/10.7275/x7a9-e988