Belief revision through the belief-function formalism in a multi-agent environment

The abilities of detecting contradictions and rearranging the cognitive space in order to cope with them are important to be embedded in the BDI architecture of an agent acting in a complex and dynamic world. However, to be accomplished in a multi-agent environment, ldquobelief revisionrdquo must depart considerably from its original definitions. According to us, the main changes should be the following ones: 1. replacing the ldquopriority to the incoming information principlerdquo with the ldquorecoverability principlerdquo: any previously believed piece of information must belong to the current cognitive state whenever it is possible 2. dealing not just with pieces of information but with couples <source, information> since the reliability of the source affects the credibility of the information and vice-versa. The ldquobelief-functionrdquo formalism is here accepted as a simple and intuitive way to transfer the sources' reliability to the information's credibility.