Fuzzy Logic in Its 50th Year

Abstract

The development of fuzzy set theory and fuzzy logic provided an opportunity for the human sciences to incorporate a mathematical framework with attractive properties. The potential applications include using fuzzy set theory as a descriptive model of how people treat categorical concepts, employing it as a prescriptive framework for “rational” treatment of such concepts, and as a basis for analysing graded membership response data from experiments and surveys. However, half a century later this opportunity still has not been fully grasped. This chapter surveys the history of fuzzy set applications in the human sciences, and then elaborates the possible reasons why fuzzy set concepts have been relatively under-utilized therein. Fuzzy