Hartmann, Stephan and Sprenger, Jan (2009) Judgment Aggregation and the Problem of Tracking the Truth. [Preprint]

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Abstract

The aggregation of consistent individual judgments on logically interconnected propositions into a collective judgment on those propositions has recently drawn much attention. Seemingly reasonable aggregation procedures, such as propositionwise majority voting, cannot ensure an equally consistent collective conclusion. In this paper, we motivate that quite often, we do not only want to make a factually right decision, but also to correctly evaluate the reasons for that decision. In other words, we address the problem of tracking the truth. We set up a probabilistic model that generalizes the analysis of Bovens and Rabinowicz (2006) and use it to compare several aggregation procedures. Demanding some reasonable adequacy constraints, we demonstrate that a reasons- or premise-based aggregation procedure tracks the truth better than any other procedure. However, we also illuminate that such a procedure is not in all circumstances easy to implement, leaving actual decision-makers with a tradeoff problem.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Hartmann, Stephan Sprenger, Jan
Keywords:	judgment aggregation, social choice, voting theory, truth-tracking, social epistemology
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Probability/Statistics General Issues > Decision Theory Specific Sciences > Economics
Depositing User:	Jan Sprenger
Date Deposited:	16 Jul 2009
Last Modified:	29 Sep 2011 11:26
Item ID:	4765
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Probability/Statistics General Issues > Decision Theory Specific Sciences > Economics
Date:	June 2009
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/4765

Available Versions of this Item

• Judgment Aggregation and the Problem of Tracking the Truth. (deposited 27 May 2008)
  • Judgment Aggregation and the Problem of Tracking the Truth. (deposited 16 Jul 2009) [Currently Displayed]
    • Judgment Aggregation and the Problem of Tracking the Truth. (deposited 29 Sep 2011 11:26)

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