Fuzzy Logic: A Means To Construct And Measure Concepts In Social Science

Social concepts are made of “objective” and “subjective” components. A dialectical relationship between object and subject forms a social concept. In other words any comprehension or understanding of the concept is dependent on the "object" and "subject" and so any process of comprehension is dialectical. Thus we can say that it depends upon the state of mind of the audience and the reality. When it comes to social concepts, we deal with different degrees of abstract and concrete which causes a kind of ambiguity in the meaning attributed to the object. In other words, instead of a dual scenario of “truth” and “non truth” we face a multi scenario of “degrees of truth”. This is why an approach based on fuzzy logic can be effective in the construction and assessment of concepts. Classic logic which is based on the dual logic of truth and non-truth cannot resolve the dilemma of the conceptual ambiguity. Concepts of social science based on their own nature cannot fully and precisely determine which denotations to include. So, fuzzy logic can work more efficient than classic logic. In Fuzzy logic any process of understanding or decoding is polyvalent. This logic is based on accuracy and transparency. Any concept in any science must be "accurate" and "transparent". The validity of any concept is measured by its consistency to the ever changing reality. Therefore, this outlook (fuzzy) can help us to better understand and explain the social phenomena and is more applicable to the real world.