BELIEF REVISION - AN AXIOMATIC APPROACH

Belief revision systems aim at keeping a database consistent. They mos tly concentrate on how to record and maintain dependencies. We propose an axiomatic system, called MFOT, as a solution to the problem of bel ief revision. MFOT has a set of proper axioms which selects a set of m osi plausible and consistent input beliefs. The proposed nonmonotonic inference rule further maintains consistency while generating the cons equences of input beliefs. It also permits multiple property inheritan ce with exceptions. We have also examined some important properties of the proposed axiomatic system. We also propose a belief revision mode l that is object-centered. The relevance of such a model in maintainin g the beliefs of a physician is examined.