An expert system for multiobjective decision making: application of fuzzy linguistic preferences and goal programming

This paper introduces an interactive approach for solving multiobjective decision making (MODM) problems based on linguistic preferences and architecture of a fuzzy expert system. The aim of this paper is to consider the decision maker's (DMs) preferences in determining the priorities and aspiration levels, in addition to analysis of conflict among the goals. The main concept presented in this paper is to convert the MODM problem into its equivalent goal programming (GP) problem by appropriately setting the priority and aspiration level for each objective. The conversion approach introduced is based on fuzzy linguistic preferences of DM, in addition to the concepts of conflict analysis among objective functions and fuzzy set theory. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.