Thinking about rational agents interacting over time is at the center of many research communities represented at ESSLLI. This course will introduce the main research themes and conceptual issues surrounding rational agency. The primary objective is to understand the complex phenomena that arise when rational agents interact and how to incorporate these phenomena into formal models. Studying rational agents involves many different aspects including (but not limited to) action, knowledge, belief, desires, and revision. This course covers all these ingredients toward the goal of understanding how these things work together.

Specific topics that will be introduced (we will focus on topics not represented in other courses at ESSLLI) during the course include 1. logics of knowledge and belief, 2. information dynamics and belief revision, 3. logics of preference and preference change, 4. logics of motivational mental attitudes, and 5. logics of individual and collective action and 6. group phenomena and issues of social choice. In fact, not all parts of this story have been developed within one single discipline. The course will also bring together several research programs: from philosophy, computer science, logic, and game theory, and try to see their various contributions in one coherent manner.

• Extended outline of the course including an appendix on modal logic (pdf, June 15 version).

Below is some pointers to resources that are relevant for this course including websites of other courses/seminars, textbooks, papers, and web portals.

• loriweb.org: a web portal with a number of important resources (call for papers, conference announcements, available positions, general discussions, etc.).
• Recent courses and seminars (contains links to relevant papers)
• Rational Agency and Intelligent Interaction (Stanford University, Spring 2009)
• Logical Dynamics Workshop (Stanford University, Spring 2009)
• Logics for Dynamics of Information and Preferences (ILLC)

Below is a schedule for the course (which is subject to change). There are also brief synopses of each of the lectures and slides (available after each lecture).

Date	Topic	Slides
Day 1 July 27, 2009	Introduction, Motivation and Background	Lecture 1
Day 2 July 28, 2009	Basic Ingredients for a Logic of Rational Agency	Lecture 2
Day 3 July 29, 2009	Logics of Rational Agency and Social Interaction, Part I	Lecture 3
Day 4 July 30, 2009	Logics of Rational Agency and Social Interaction, Part II	Lecture 4
Day 5 July 31, 2009	Conclusions and General Issues	Lecture 5