A Philosophy of Science with Fuzzy Structures

Abstract

This paper deals with fuzzy sets and fuzzy relations as a new tool for philosophers of science. This philosophical discipline deals with the connections of empirical and theoretical structures. Scientists observe real systems and phenomena and from that they obtain a data structure. To represent that structure they build a model. In this context we say simplistic that there is a "mapping" from reality to theory. The so-called structuralist approach in philosophy of science uses informal logic and informal set theory to axiomatize empirical theories and their intertheoretic relations. It offers two layers of structures: the empirical and the theoretical layer. In this paper we will extend this structuralist view by using fuzzy sets and fuzzy relations to represent structures of perceptions as important components in the philosophy of science. These components have to be settled in an intermediate layer between the empirical and theoretical structures.