We extend the well-known representation theorem for interlaced bilattices to the broader class of weak interlaced bilattices. Based on this new theorem, we develop a fixpoint theory for non-monotone functions over weak infinitarily interlaced bilattices. Our theory generalizes classical fixpoint constructions introduced by Fitting, as-well-as recent results in the area of approximation fixpoint theory. We argue that the proposed theory has direct practical applications: we develop the semantics of higher-order logic programming with negation under an arbitrary weak infinitarily interlaced bilattice with negation, generalizing in this way recent work on the three-valued semantics of this formalism. We consider a line of research, initiated by Fitting, which investigates the structure of the consistent parts of bilattices in order to obtain natural generalizations of Kleene’s three-valued logic. We demonstrate that the consistent parts of bilattices are closely connected to weak bilattices, generalizing previous results of Fitting and Kondo.

Abstract We propose a stable model semantics for higher-order logic programs. Our semantics is developed using Approximation Fixpoint Theory (AFT), a powerful formalism that has successfully been used to give meaning to diverse non-monotonic formalisms. The proposed semantics generalizes the classical two-valued stable model semantics of Gelfond and Lifschitz as well as the three-valued one of Przymusinski, retaining their desirable properties. Due to the use of AFT, we also get for free alternative semantics for higher-order logic programs, namely supported model, Kripke-Kleene, and well-founded. Additionally, we define a broad class of stratified higher-order logic programs and demonstrate that they have a unique two-valued higher-order stable model which coincides with the well-founded semantics of such programs. We provide a number of examples in different application domains, which demonstrate that higher-order logic programming under the stable model semantics is a powerful and versatile formalism, which can potentially form the basis of novel ASP systems.