A Typicality-based Revision to Handle Exceptions in Description Logics

We propose a methodology to revise a Description Logic knowledge base when detecting exceptions. Our approach relies on the methodology for debugging a Description Logic terminology, addressing the problem of diagnosing inconsistent ontologies by identifying a minimal subset of axioms responsible for an inconsistency. In the approach we propose, once the source of the inconsistency has been localized, the identified axioms are revised in order to obtain a consistent knowledge base including the detected exception about an individual x. To this aim, we make use of a nonmonotonic extension of the Description Logic ALC based on the combination of a typicality operator and the well established nonmonotonic mechanism of rational closure, which allows to deal with prototypical properties and defeasible inheritance.