1. When I was asked by the editors of this book to write a foreword, I was seized by panic. Obviously, neither I am an expert in Knowledge Representation in Fuzzy Databases nor I could have been beforehand unaware that the book's contributors would be some of the most outstanding researchers in the field. However, Amparo Vila's gentle insistence gradually broke down my initial resistance, and panic then gave way to worry. Which paving stones did I have at my disposal for making an entrance to the book? After thinking about it for some time, I concluded that it would be pretentious on my part...