On the Universality and Contributions of Multiple Criteria Decision Making: A Systems-Based Approach

This paper highlights the omnipresence of the philosophy, theory, methodology and deployment of multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) in essentially every aspect of our lives. It also highlights the specific philosophical, theoretical, methodological, and deployment perspectives that MCDM has influenced, and how MCDM has thus shaped the decision-making process. The following five themes demonstrate the universality of multiple objectives and their impact on the complex decision-making process: (i) the centrality of the states of the system in MCDM; (ii) the centrality of trade-offs in MCDM and the !-constraint method; (iii) the centrality of the time frame in MCDM; (iv) the centrality of risk and uncertainty in MCDM; and (v) the contributions of MCDM to decision analysis. An epilogue concludes the paper.