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Auteurs principaux: Chakraborty, Pinaki, Caulfield, Tristan, Pym, David
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2025
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Accès en ligne:https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.01758
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author Chakraborty, Pinaki
Caulfield, Tristan
Pym, David
author_facet Chakraborty, Pinaki
Caulfield, Tristan
Pym, David
contents Causal reasoning is essential for understanding decision-making about the behaviour of complex `ecosystems' of systems that underpin modern society, with security -- including issues around correctness, safety, resilience, etc. -- typically providing critical examples. We present a theory of strategic reasoning about system modelling based on minimal structural assumptions and employing the methods of transition systems, supported by a modal logic of system states in the tradition of van Benthem, Hennessy, and Milner, and validated through equivalence theorems. Our framework introduces an intervention operator and a separating conjunction to capture actual causal relationships between component systems of the ecosystem, aligning naturally with Halpern and Pearl's counterfactual approach based on Structural Causal Models. We illustrate the applicability through examples of of decision-making about microservices in distributed systems. We discuss localized decision-making through a separating conjunction. This work unifies a formal, minimalistic notion of system behaviour with a Halpern--Pearl-compatible theory of counterfactual reasoning, providing a logical foundation for studying decision making about causality in complex interacting systems.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2508_01758
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Causality and Decision-making: A Logical Framework for Systems and Security Modelling
Chakraborty, Pinaki
Caulfield, Tristan
Pym, David
Logic in Computer Science
Multiagent Systems
Causal reasoning is essential for understanding decision-making about the behaviour of complex `ecosystems' of systems that underpin modern society, with security -- including issues around correctness, safety, resilience, etc. -- typically providing critical examples. We present a theory of strategic reasoning about system modelling based on minimal structural assumptions and employing the methods of transition systems, supported by a modal logic of system states in the tradition of van Benthem, Hennessy, and Milner, and validated through equivalence theorems. Our framework introduces an intervention operator and a separating conjunction to capture actual causal relationships between component systems of the ecosystem, aligning naturally with Halpern and Pearl's counterfactual approach based on Structural Causal Models. We illustrate the applicability through examples of of decision-making about microservices in distributed systems. We discuss localized decision-making through a separating conjunction. This work unifies a formal, minimalistic notion of system behaviour with a Halpern--Pearl-compatible theory of counterfactual reasoning, providing a logical foundation for studying decision making about causality in complex interacting systems.
title Causality and Decision-making: A Logical Framework for Systems and Security Modelling
topic Logic in Computer Science
Multiagent Systems
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.01758