The little nell problem

reasonable and resolute maintenance of agent intentions

Richmond H. Thomason

pp. 433-440

in: Philippe Huneman, Daniel Kostić (eds), Mechanistic and topological explanations, Synthese 195 (1), 2018.

Abstract

The Little Nell Problem was formulated by Drew McDermott in 1982. It reveals unexpected complexities in the interaction of the beliefs and intentions of a planning agent. This paper discusses the problem and proposes a solution.