A logic-pluralistic framework and methodology for knowledge representation and reasoning — built on shallow and deep semantical embeddings of object logics in classical higher-order logic (HOL), so that automation and model finding transfer for free to the embedded logics.
LogiKEy (Logic and Knowledge Engineering) is a framework and methodology for the design, engineering and — importantly — experimentation with special-purpose reasoners, with a particular focus on legal-ethical reasoners, normative theories, and expressive classical and non-classical logics and their combinations. Pursued since 2007, the enterprise is deeply interdisciplinary, connecting computer science and AI with law, ethics, mathematics, philosophy and theology. Its unifying idea is simple and powerful: instead of building a bespoke prover for every object logic, one embeds the object logic semantically into an expressive meta-logic, classical higher-order logic (HOL), and then reasons through existing HOL provers and model finders.
These shallow semantical embeddings — more recently complemented by deep embeddings related to them through mechanised faithfulness proofs — turn HOL into a universal meta-logical workbench. A domain is then modelled across several abstraction layers — the meta-logic, the object logic(s), a domain theory, and concrete examples — each of which can be freely swapped, compared and refined. Because everything lives inside one consistent HOL formalisation, predictions can be stated precisely, tested with rigorous proof and counter-model techniques, and audited. The reference implementation combines interactive and automated reasoning: the Isabelle/HOL proof assistant working hand in hand with automated higher-order provers such as LEO-II and Leo-III, first-order and SMT provers, and (counter-)model finders.
The framework paper [1] defines LogiKEy and its multi-layer methodology; the survey [3] traces the broader programme of universal (meta-)logical reasoning; the value-oriented legal reasoning study [15] demonstrates the full LogiKEy methodology at work in AI & law; the recipe paper [5] unifies deep and shallow embeddings with mechanised faithfulness proofs; the position paper [4] argues the underlying vision of logical pluralism; and the [2] Isabelle/HOL dataset makes the whole workbench reproducible.
Standard, dyadic and preference-based deontic logics, Input/Output logic and conditional normative reasoning — embedded in HOL to handle contrary-to-duty scenarios, detachment, exceptions and non-monotonicity.
Encoding ethico-legal value ontologies and complex ethical theories, so that normative decisions can be modelled, explained and contested — a foundation for ethical governors of intelligent systems.
Formal reconstruction and automated analysis of modal ontological arguments in higher-order modal logic: verifying consistency, revealing hidden assumptions and modal collapse, and comparing Gödel's, Scott's and further variants.
Automating free logic in HOL and using it to axiomatise category theory, and mechanising Zalta's abstract object theory (Principia Logico-Metaphysica) — LogiKEy as a tool for meta-logical and foundational investigation.
The methodological core: classical higher-order logic as meta-logic; deep vs. shallow embeddings; mechanised faithfulness proofs between them; and the automated-reasoning toolchain (Isabelle/HOL, Sledgehammer, Nitpick, Leo-III).
Sharp case studies that stress-test the methodology — such as the dramatic proof-length speed-up in Boolos' curious inference — alongside reconstructions of philosophical and legal arguments.
LogiKEy has been shaped — and is carried forward — by many hands across the world. Among its contributors, users and friends:
Lawrence C. Paulson (University of Cambridge) · Leon van der Torre (University of Luxembourg) · Xavier Parent (TU Wien) · Dana S. Scott (Carnegie Mellon University, Berkeley) · Edward N. Zalta (Stanford University) · Beishui Liao (Zhejiang University) · Sujala Shetty (BITS Pilani Dubai) · Alexander Steen (University of Greifswald) · Geoff Sutcliffe (University of Miami) · Chad E. Brown (Czech Technical University in Prague) · Michael Kohlhase (FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg) · Florian Rabe (FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg) · Andrea Vestrucci (University of Bamberg) · David Fuenmayor · Daniel Kirchner (FU Berlin) · Luca Pasetto (University of Luxembourg) · Réka Markovich (University of Luxembourg) · Bruno Woltzenlogel Paleo · Max Wisniewski (University of Bamberg) · Bertram Lomfeld (FU Berlin) · Ali Farjami (University of Luxembourg) · Sebastian Reiche · Paul Meder · Valeria Zahoransky · Lara Lawniczak · Xu Li · Nik Sultana · …
LogiKEy in teaching. An award-winning logic course at FU Berlin, co-taught with Alexander Steen and Max Wisniewski, pioneered the classroom use of interactive and automated theorem provers — with computational metaphysics as a case study [30]; the LogiKEy teaching methodology is described by Benzmüller & Fuenmayor [29]. LogiKEy is now used in logic courses at several universities. At the University of Bamberg it underpins several courses of the AISE group — Logische Wissensrepräsentation und Schließen (David Fuenmayor & Max Wisniewski), the project course Universal Reasoning in Philosophy, Mathematics and Computer Science, and the modules AISE-UL: Universelle Logik & Universelles Schließen and AISE-PLM-V: Computational Metaphysics — Mechanizing Principia Logico-Metaphysica [20] — and Andrea Vestrucci also builds on it in his teaching (e.g., computational philosophy) and in the supervision of student projects.
This is a curated selection. Complete, up-to-date publication lists are maintained at christoph-benzmueller.de/publications and lucapasetto.github.io. Many LogiKEy source theories and datasets are available in this repository; others are hosted elsewhere, for example in the Archive of Formal Proofs.