Synopses & Reviews
Professor John Mordeson deserves major credit both for contributing so much and in so many important ways to the advancement of fuzzy mathematics, and his pioneering work on applications of fuzzy mathematics to soft sciences. He and his collaborators, Terry D. Clark, Jennifer M. Larson, Joshua D. Potter and Mark J. Wierman, have produced an important work which breaks new ground in application of fuzzy mathematics to soft sciences and especially to comparative politics. FMCP opens the door to many further applications. In this perspective, the importance of FMCP is hard to exaggerate. Professor Mordeson, his co-authors and the publisher, Springer, deserve loud applause.
Lotfi A. Zadeh, Berkeley, California
This study is a welcome addition to a field that arguably is still in as embryonic stage. The most important literature in the field is brought to bear on the explorations; no doubt this study will take its place among such literature. Further, the authors condense the current literature with rigor and clarity, and bring a certain freshness to this material. This is an exacting book as it charts new, somewhat untested paths. This book will serve as a guide to a new generation of scholars and students of political science. An excellent tool, I am confident that this work will enjoy broad distribution.
Michael Proterra, S.J., Parochial Vicar, St Raphael Church and Schools
Synopsis
This book explores the intersection of fuzzy mathematics and the spatial modeling of preferences in political science. Beginning with a critique of conventional modeling approaches predicated on Cantor set theoretical assumptions, the authors outline the potential benefits of a fuzzy approach to the study of ambiguous or uncertain preference profiles. While crisp models assume that ambiguity is a form of confusion emerging from imperfect information about policy options, the authors argue instead that some level of ambiguity is innate in human preferences and social interaction. What fuzzy mathematics offers the researcher, then, is a precise tool with which he can model the inherently imprecise dimensions of nuanced empirical reality. Moving beyond the limited treatment fuzzy methodologies have received in extant political science literature, this book develops single- and multidimensional models of fuzzy preference landscapes and characterizes the surprisingly high levels of stability that emerge from interactions between players operating within these models. The material presented makes it a good text for a graduate seminar in formal modeling. It is also suitable as an introductory text in fuzzy mathematics for graduate and advanced undergraduate students.
Synopsis
This book explores the intersection of fuzzy mathematics and the spatial modeling of preferences in political science. Beginning with a critique of conventional modeling approaches predicated on Cantor set theoretical assumptions, the authors outline the potential benefits of a fuzzy approach to the study of ambiguous or uncertain preference profiles. This is a good text for a graduate seminar in formal modeling. It is also suitable as an introductory text in fuzzy mathematics.
Table of Contents
Applying Fuzzy Set Theory to Comparative Politics.- Fuzzy Set Theory.- Fuzzy Geometry.- Fuzzy One-Dimensional Models.- Fuzzy Spatial Models.- Estimating Fuzzy Policy Preferences.- Cycling in Fuzzy Spatial Models.