Utilizing a dialectical model in a question answering system

A method for utilizing a dialectical model for providing an answer to a user query comprising:

• receiving, by a system, a natural language query from a user;
• applying, by the system, natural language processing (NLP) to the query to generate a first set of NLP structures;
• generating, by the system, a contrary set of NLP structures which represent an opposite polarity query to the user query;
• evaluating, by the system, the first set of NLP structures to identify a first set of evidence for candidate answers;
• evaluating, by the system, the contrary set of NLP structures to identify a second set of evidence for candidate answers;
• evaluating, by the system, a first set of hypotheses from the first set of NLP structures based on the first set of evidence for candidate answers, and a contrary set of hypotheses from the contrary set of NLP structures based on the second set of evidence for candidate answers, to determine a set of answers to the user query;
• converting, by the system, the set of answers to natural language;
• and
• providing the converted set of answers to the user.

A computer program product for utilizing a dialectical model for providing an answer to a user query, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a processing circuit to cause a device to perform a method comprising:

• receiving, by a system, a natural language query from a user;
• applying, by the system, natural language processing (NLP) to the query to generate a first set of NLP structures;
• generating, by the system, a contrary set of NLP structures which represent an opposite polarity query to the user query;
• evaluating, by the system, the first set of NLP structures to identify a first set of evidence for candidate answers;
• evaluating, by the system, the contrary set of NLP structures to identify a second set of evidence for candidate answers;
• evaluating, by the system, a first set of hypotheses from the first set of NLP structures based on the first set of evidence for candidate answers, and a contrary set of hypotheses from the contrary set of NLP structures based on the second set of evidence for candidate answers, to determine a set of answers to the user query;
• converting, by the system, the set of answers to natural language;
• and
• providing the converted set of answers to the user.

A data processing system for utilizing a dialectical model for providing an answer to a user query, the data processing system comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory storing program instructions which when executed by the processor execute steps of:
• receiving, by a system, a natural language query from a user;
• applying, by the system, natural language processing (NLP) to the query to generate a first set of NLP structures;
• generating, by the system, a contrary set of NLP structures which represent an opposite polarity query to the user query;
• evaluating, by the system, the first set of NLP structures to identify a first set of evidence for candidate answers;
• evaluating, by the system, the contrary set of NLP structures to identify a second set of evidence for candidate answers;
• evaluating, by the system, a first set of hypotheses from the first set of NLP structures based on the first set of evidence for candidate answers, and a contrary set of hypotheses from the contrary set of NLP structures based on the second set of evidence for candidate answers, to determine a set of answers to the user query;
• converting, by the system, the set of answers to natural language;
• and
• providing the converted set of answers to the user.