Abstract
Via a family of monotone scalar functions, a preorder on a set is extended to its power set and then used to construct a hull operator and a corresponding complete lattice of sets. Functions mapping into the preordered set are extended to complete lattice-valued ones, and concepts for exact and approximate solutions for corresponding set optimization problems are introduced and existence results are given. Well-posedness for complete lattice-valued problems is introduced and characterized. The new approach is compared with existing ones in vector and set optimization. Its relevance is shown by means of many examples from multicriteria decision making, statistics, and mathematical economics and finance.