Quantifiers in the formulation of multiple objective decision functions (Q800835)

The paper presents a formalization of Multiple Objective Decision Problems. Intended is to model the myriad ways people combine objectives to form overall decision functions. These have the structure of linguistically quantified statements and are interpreted in two ways using fuzzy sets. The algebraic approach corresponds to situations in which the allocation of satisfaction between the objectives has no relevance. With the substitution approach the overall decision functions are dependent upon the allocation of satisfaction among the objectives. For numerical applications this formulation lets open the choice of the numerical values of the linguistic quantifiers. Excluding some extreme cases (all objectives are to be satisfied, or at least one, for example) the formalization of the overall decision function includes quantifiers with arbitrary values. The formalization provides no help to determine such values.