https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Default_logic
People have actually bothered to express things like this in math. I’m impressed.
Basically, they broke it down into things like this:
“If A and B and C are true, and D and E and F are possible at all then assume G”
“Does it have a beak and wings? Do any other things with beaks and wings in this region fly? Well then, assume it can fly.” (A common-sensically unsound statement, but you get the idea)
I think it could just be heuristics by a different name… hmm…
Another category of default logic is Normal Default Logic. It can express things like:
“If A and B and C are true, then assume D, but if something contradicts D in any way then ignore this statement.”
I think that this formalization is neat. It seems like stuff we as computer scientists do constantly… but expressed in logic.