Fuzzy systems and scientific method
meta-level reflections and prospects
pp. 37-65
in: Rudolf Seising (ed), Views on fuzzy sets and systems from different perspectives, Berlin, Springer, 2009Abstract
Despite the great success of fuzzy systems in various applications, we still need their further studies from the standpoint of their metatheory, methodology and the philosophy of science. This objective means that in the context of fuzzy systems we should consider more such aspects as the role of scientific outlooks and research paradigms, concept analysis, scientific argumentation, hypothesis assessment, theory formation, scientific explanation and ethics. Below we consider these subject matters at a general level and we also attempt to subsume them under Lotfi Zadeh's recent ideas on approximation.