Multiple Objective Multistage Decision Making

Abstract

Decision making has been a focus of reflection bymany thinkers since ancient times. The great philosophers, such as Aristotle, Plato, and Thomas Aquinas, discussed the capacity of human decision making claiming that it is this capacity that distinguishes us from animals (Figueira et al. 2005 [163]). With the modernization of both scientific methods and society, appropriate decision making has become increasingly important in many areas of human activity, including engineering, management, and economic development. In most practical problems, decisions have to be made sequentially at different points in time and space, and at different system levels.