This book presents the first algebraic treatment of quasi-truth fuzzy logic and covers the algebraic foundations of many-valued logic. It offers a comprehensive account of basic techniques and reports on important results showing the pivotal role played by perfect many-valued algebras (MV-algebras). It is well known that the first-order predicate Lukasiewicz logic is not complete with respect to the canonical set of truth values. However, it is complete with respect to all linearly ordered MV -algebras. As there are no simple linearly ordered MV-algebras in this case, infinitesimal elements of an MV-algebra are allowed to be truth values. The book presents perfect algebras as an interesting subclass of local MV-algebras and provides readers with the necessary knowledge and tools for formalizing the fuzzy concept of quasi true and quasi false. All basic concepts are introduced in detail to promote a better understanding of the more complex ones. It is an advanced and inspiring reference-guide for graduate students and researchers in the field of non-classical many-valued logics.

It took many decades for Peirce's coneept of a relation to find its way into the microelectronic innards of control systems of eement kilns, subway trains, and tunnel-digging machinery. But what is amazing is that the more we leam about the basically simple coneept of a relation, the more aware we become of its fundamental importanee and wide ranging ramifications. The work by Di Nola, Pedrycz, Sanchez, and Sessa takes us a long distanee in this direction by opening new vistas on both the theory and applications of fuzzy relations - relations which serve to model the imprecise coneepts which pervade the real world. Di Nola, Pedrycz, Sanchez, and Sessa focus their attention on a eentral problem in the theory of fuzzy relations, namely the solution of fuzzy relational equations. The theory of such equations was initiated by Sanchez in 1976, ina seminal paper dealing with the resolution of composite fuzzy relational equations. Sinee then, hundreds of papers have been written on this and related topics, with major contributions originating in France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Poland, Japan, China, the Soviet Union, India, and other countries. The bibliography included in this volume highlights the widespread interest in the theory of fuzzy relational equations and the broad spectrum of its applications.

This book presents the first algebraic treatment of quasi-truth fuzzy logic and covers the algebraic foundations of many-valued logic. It offers a comprehensive account of basic techniques and reports on important results showing the pivotal role played by perfect many-valued algebras (MV-algebras). It is well known that the first-order predicate Lukasiewicz logic is not complete with respect to the canonical set of truth values. However, it is complete with respect to all linearly ordered MV -algebras. As there are no simple linearly ordered MV-algebras in this case, infinitesimal elements of an MV-algebra are allowed to be truth values. The book presents perfect algebras as an interesting subclass of local MV-algebras and provides readers with the necessary knowledge and tools for formalizing the fuzzy concept of quasi true and quasi false. All basic concepts are introduced in detail to promote a better understanding of the more complex ones. It is an advanced and inspiring reference-guide for graduate students and researchers in the field of non-classical many-valued logics.

It took many decades for Peirce's coneept of a relation to find its way into the microelectronic innards of control systems of eement kilns, subway trains, and tunnel-digging machinery. But what is amazing is that the more we leam about the basically simple coneept of a relation, the more aware we become of its fundamental importanee and wide ranging ramifications. The work by Di Nola, Pedrycz, Sanchez, and Sessa takes us a long distanee in this direction by opening new vistas on both the theory and applications of fuzzy relations - relations which serve to model the imprecise coneepts which pervade the real world. Di Nola, Pedrycz, Sanchez, and Sessa focus their attention on a eentral problem in the theory of fuzzy relations, namely the solution of fuzzy relational equations. The theory of such equations was initiated by Sanchez in 1976, ina seminal paper dealing with the resolution of composite fuzzy relational equations. Sinee then, hundreds of papers have been written on this and related topics, with major contributions originating in France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Poland, Japan, China, the Soviet Union, India, and other countries. The bibliography included in this volume highlights the widespread interest in the theory of fuzzy relational equations and the broad spectrum of its applications.

The present volume collects selected papers arising from lectures delivered by the authors at the School on Fuzzy Logic and Soft Computing held during the years 1996/97/98/99 and sponsored by the Salerno University. The authors contributing to this volume agreed with editors to write down, to enlarge and, in many cases, to rethink their original lectures, in order to offer to readership, a more compact presentation of the proposed topics. The aim of the volume is to offer a picture, as a job in progress, of the effort that is coming in founding and developing soft computing's techniques. The volume contains papers aimed to report on recent results containing genuinely logical aspects of fuzzy logic. The topics treated in this area cover algebraic aspects of Lukasiewicz Logic, Fuzzy Logic as the logic of continuous t-norms, Intuitionistic Fuzzy Logic. Aspects of fuzzy logic based on similar ity relation are presented in connection with the problem of flexible querying in deductive database. Departing from fuzzy logic, some papers present re sults in Probability Logic treating computational aspects, results based on indishernability relation and a non commutative version of generalized effect algebras. Several strict applications of soft computing are presented in the book. Indeed we find applications ranging among pattern recognition, image and signal processing, evolutionary agents, fuzzy cellular networks, classi fication in fuzzy environments. The volume is then intended to serve as a reference work for foundational logico-algebraic aspect of Soft Computing and for concrete applications of soft computing technologies."

Die VerOffentlichung eines Buchmanuskripts rund fiinfzig Jahre nach seinem AbschluBl bedarf einer ErkHirung und Rechtfertigung. Die Erklarung ist vor aHem autobiographisch. Ais im Jahr 1935 meine "systematischen und historischen Vorstudien zu einer gesetzesfreien Ethik" unter dem Haupttitel Gesetz und Sittengesetz im Max Niehans Verlag in Ziirich erschienen, plante ich, ihnen alsbald die darin versprochene Ausfiihrung meines Programms einer gesetzesfreien Ethik und Philosophie der ethischen Rechte und Pflichten folgen zu lassen. Denn von Anfang an war das Endziel meiner damaligen philosophischen Bemiihungen eine systematische Erneuerung der Grundlagen der praktischen Philosophie in phanomenologischer Sicht, welche die berechtigten und unentbehrlichen Prinzipien des Naturrechts wertphilosophisch fundieren konnte. N achdem ich im J ahr 1934 die Hoffnung auf eine Habilitation in Europa aus politischen Griinden aufgeben muBte, arbeitete ich in den folgenden J ahren zunachst an der Durchfiihrung dieses Plans, den ich im Jahr 1937 wahrend eines Studienaufenthalts in England (in Vorbereitung meiner Ubersiedlung in die Vereinigten Staaten) zum AbschluB brachte, wobei ich zugleich Einsichten der britischen Moralphilosophie einzuarbeiten suchte. Als ich indes Anfang 1938 das neue Manuskript meinem Ziiricher Verleger vorlegte, war es ihm nicht langer moglich, die Verbreitung eines solchen Textes eines nicht "reinrassigen" Autors im deutschen Sprachgebiet zu versuchen. Fiir eine englische VerOffentlichung in Amerika war der Boden fiir mich als Neuankommling noch nicht reif. Hier muBte ich mir erst durch allgemeine phanomenologische Aufsatze und vor allem durch historische Einfiihrungen eine Basis fiir eine neue philosophische Existenz schaffen.