Mill's canons meet social ranking: A characterization of plurality

TL;DR

This paper reinterprets Mill's classical canons of inductive reasoning within modern social ranking theory, revealing a link between causal reasoning principles and methods for estimating individual power based on team performance.

Contribution

It introduces a novel application of Mill's canons to social ranking, characterizing plurality and connecting classical logic with contemporary social choice models.

Findings

Mill's canons identify key success factors in cooperative performance.

Plurality is characterized using a strong version of Mill's first canon.

Most canons are compatible with the concept of plurality.

Abstract

In his book entitled ''A System of Logic, Ratiocinative and Inductive'' (1843), John Stuart Mill proposed principles of inductive reasoning in the form of five canons. To date, these canons are classic methods for causal reasoning: they are intended to single out the circumstances that are connected to the phenomenon under focus. The present paper reinterprets Mill's canons in the modern theory of social ranking solutions, which aims to estimate the power of individuals based on teams' performances. We first apply Mill's canons to determine the key success factors in cooperative performances and then characterize plurality using a strong version of Mill's first canon. Plurality is also compatible with most other canons. Thus, our results demonstrated a hidden link between classical causal reasoning and the theory of social ranking solutions.