Intensity Comparisons, the Borda Rule and Democratic Theory

Abstract

The standard democratic methods are unable to take the intensities of preferences into account. This is seen as a problem both in the theory of social choice and in the philosophy of democracy. The Borda count is sometimes defended as a rule which is able to take intensity differences into account. Here, it is argued that some defences of the Borda rule are based on the view that the basic task of voting rules is to aggregate information. In voting, however, there are two aspects which are not equally relevant other contexts: the requirements of democracy, and the interaction between the aggregation method and the input of aggregation. Voting should be conceptualized as an exercise of power. Arguments for Borda may be convincing in some contexts, but not necessarily in voting contexts.