[EM] For Marku: dropping & "not there"

[Markus Schulze]

Dear Craig,

you wrote (1 Aug 2001):
> However, if an election method produces a winning opinion, it is impossible
> to remove a pairwise comparison without killing a candidate.  The idea being
> that each majority opinion on each pairwise comparison is put alltogether to
> get an overall opinion.  If that opinion contradicts itself, you have to
> change it so it doesn't contradict itself - which involves inverting the
> pairwise comparisons with the smallest majority.  Every pairwise comparison
> is still there, because otherwise you don't get a complete opinion.  Markus
> has come to the conclusion that this is what Condorcet means when he
> discusses opinions and eliminating defeats.

I agree with you. The basic question is whether Condorcet wants to find the
best guess for best candidate or the best guess for best ranking. E.g. Young
(Hobart Peyton Young, "Condorcet's Theory of Voting," American Political
Science Review, vol. 82, p. 1231-1240, 1988) gets to the conclusion that
Condorcet tries to find the best guess for best ranking. Consequently
Young suggests that Condorcet uses the term "eliminating" in the meaning
of "inverting".

Markus Schulze