[CfP] KR-2026 Tutorial: Definite Descriptions in KR Languages

[Alessandro Artale]

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Call For Participation

KR-2026 Tutorial: Definite Descriptions in KR Languages

In conjunction with KR 2026

July 18, 2026 @ Morning

https://defdeskr.github.io/kr26tutorial/

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

PRESENTERS

A. Artale, A. Indrzejczak, O. Kutz, A. Mazzullo, P. Wałega

ABSTRACT

Definite Descriptions are expressions having the logical form of "the

x such that \phi(x)" and typically paraphrased by sentences expressing existence and uniqueness conditions (a proposal that dates back to Russell). In the context of Knowledge Representation formalisms, and in particular in description logics, terms of the form \iota C ("the object that is C") have been added, leading to extensions of ALC, ALCO and ELO which have been studied in their expressive power and complexity of reasoning. Definite descriptions that act as non-rigid designators, referring to different objects across worlds or over time, have been also introduced in first-order modal and temporal logics, where their impact on the decidability boundaries of well-known monodic fragments has been investigated.

The purpose of this tutorial is to give a comprehensive overview of

the recent developments in the field, introducing a unifying framework and discussing the main results on definite descriptions that are relevant to KR applications. In addition, we intend to mention and compare alternative approaches, on the referring expression generation problem, and on the use of referring expressions for query answering in information systems.

SCHEDULE

- July 18, 2026 -

09:15 - 10:00 Tutorial Part 1

10:00 - 10:15 Coffee Break

10:15 - 11:00 Tutorial Part 2

11:00 - 11:15 Break

11:15 - 12:00 Tutorial Part 3

12:00 - 12:30 Conclusions and QA