Local Supermajorities

This paper explores two non-standard supermajority rules in the context of judgment aggregation over multiple logically connected issues. These rules set the supermajority threshold in a local, context sensitive way—partly as a function of the input profile of opinions. To motivate the interest of these rules, I prove two results. First, I characterize each rule in terms of a condition I call ‘Block Preservation’. Block preservation says that if a majority of group members accept a judgment set, then so should the group. Second, I show that one of these rules is, in a precise sense, a judgment aggregation analogue of a rule for connecting qualitative and quantitative belief that has been recently defended by Hannes Leitgeb. The structural analogy is due to the fact that Leitgeb sets thresholds for qualitative beliefs in a local, context sensitive way—partly as a function of the given credence function. *Thanks to Branden Fitelson, Davide Grossi, Hannes Leitgeb, Gabriella Pigozzi and Patricia Rich for comments on earlier versions. Thanks to two reviewers for Erkenntnis for detailed and insightful reports. Special thanks to Branden Fitelson’s epistemology seminar at Rutgers where this material was presented in the Fall of 2014 and to the audience at the 2015 Formal Epistemology Workshop. Thanks also to Christian List for suggesting that I slice out one idea out of a much more baroque project and turn it into a paper in its own right (this one). The more baroque paper was delivered at DEON 2012 whose audience I also thank for their feedback.