Qualitative evaluation of decisions in an argumentative manner - A general discussion in a unified setting

The paper intends to provide a unified discussion of different types of decision processes (decision under uncertainty, multiple-criteria decision, case-based decision, rule-based decision) from an argumentation point of view. This means here that in the evaluation of a decision, we carefully distinguish what positively contributes to its evaluation and what negatively contributes to it. The discussion favors a qualitative evaluation setting, which uses a bivariate scale for assessing the values of consequences. The nature of arguments changes with the type of decision, as well as how their strength can be assessed. However, a preliminary view of how balancing pros and cons for ranking decisions is proposed. Some illustrative examples are provided.