This book considers Soft Computing methods and their applications in the human sciences, such as the social and the behavioral sciences. Soft Computing methods - including fuzzy systems, neural networks, evolutionary computing and probabilistic reasoning - are state-of-the-art methods in theory formation and model construction. The powerful application areas of these methods in the human sciences are demonstrated, including the replacement of statistical models by simpler numerical or linguistic Soft Computing models and the use of computer simulations with approximate and linguistic constituents.

"Dr. Niskanens work opens new vistas in application of soft computing, fuzzy logic and fuzzy set theory to the human sciences. This book is likely to be viewed in retrospect as a landmark in its field" - Lotfi A. Zadeh, Berkeley.

Klappentext

An in-depth look at soft computing methods and their applications in the human sciences, such as the social and the behavioral sciences. Soft computing methods - including fuzzy systems, neural networks, evolutionary computing and probabilistic reasoning - are state-of-the-art methods in theory formation and model construction. The powerful application areas of these methods in the human sciences are demonstrated, including the replacement of statistical models by simpler numerical or linguistic soft computing models and the use of computer simulations with approximate and linguistic constituents.

"Dr. Niskanen's work opens new vistas in application of soft computing, fuzzy logic and fuzzy set theory to the human sciences. This book is likely to be viewed in retrospect as a landmark in its field" (Lotfi A. Zadeh, Berkeley)

Inhalt

1. Towards Novel Methods in the Human Sciences.- 2. Brief Introduction to Fuzzy Set Theory.- 3. Concise Logopedics for Soft Computing Models.- 4. The Approximate Truth about the Degrees of Truth.- 5. Approximate Reasoning.- 6. Quantitative Data Examination.- 7. Soft Computing Models for Complex Systems.- 8. Towards Soft Computing Applications in Qualitative Research.- 9. Conclusions.- List of Figures.- List of Tables.- List of Boxes.- References.