Three-way conflict analysis: Reformulations and extensions of the Pawlak model

This paper introduces a model of three-way conflict analysis by reformulating and extending the original model by Pawlak. The proposed model is based on the philosophy, methodology, and mechanism of thinking and processing in threes of a theory of three-way decision. We examine a trisection of agents and a trisection of pairs of agents, as well as their relationships. We adopt a hexagon to represent geometrically a trisection, which gives an intuitive and effective tool for studying three-way decision. According to the two trisections, we suggest three levels of conflict consisting of strong conflict, weak conflict, and non-conflict. The results are described geometrically by a triangle of conflict. The new model of three-way conflict analysis (a) clarifies important conceptual and semantics interpretations of conflict, (b) removes some inconsistencies in the Pawlak model, and (c) gives a more general conception of conflict analysis with three levels of conflict by using many-valued ratings. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.