Three Perspectives of Granular Computing

As an emerging field of study, granular computing has received much attention. Many models, frameworks, methods and techniques have been proposed and studied. It is perhaps the time to seek for a general and unified view so that fundamental issues can be examined and clarified.This paper examines granular computing from three perspectives.By viewing granular computing as a way of structured thinking,we focus on its philosophical foundations in modeling human perception of the reality.By viewing granular computing as a method of structured problem solving,we examine its theoretical and methodological foundations in solving a wide range of real-world problems.By viewing granular computing as a paradigm of information processing,we turn our attention to its more concrete techniques. The three perspectives together offer a holistic view of granular computing.