Fuzziness, probability, uncertainty and the foundations of knowledge

Abstract

This paper will describe how fuzzy logic, neural networks and other fundamental approaches to the nature of knowledge and epistemology fit together, both at a philosophical level and at the level of practical technology. The views herein are my own, but the bulk of the credit really belongs to Lotfi Zadeh and to the unusual, rich dialogue he has created through the Berkeley Initiative for Soft Computing (BISC). Only this very special kind of dialogue can really bring out the many cross-connections which exist in these complex fields of research. Lotfi has done an amazing job of pushing the community just hard enough, through clear but tricky questions, to get ever deeper into a wide range of issues related to fuzzy logic and to soft computing in general. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.