On the semantics and the use of fuzzy cognitive maps and dynamic cognitive maps in social sciences

Fuzzy cognitive maps (FCMs) were introduced as a tool to model the dynamics of qualitative systems and have been around for more than 20 years. However, how they have been used and the interpretations of their results are nowadays far from their original intended goal. This paper focuses on discussing the structure, the semantics and the possible use of FCM as tools to model and simulate complex social, economic and political systems, while clarifying some issues that have been recurrent in published FCM papers and reviewing some alternative approaches.