An Illuminating Exchange The Construction of Social Reality

Barry Smith and John Searle

American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 2003, vol. 62, issue 1, 285-309

Abstract: ABSTRACT . In his The Construction of Social Reality, Searle presents an account of rights, responsibilities, obligations, duties, and similar entities in terms of the formula X counts as Y in context C, where “X” refers in the simplest case to some physical object or event and “Y” to the result of imposing upon X some deontic power or function. Smith attempts to show the limitations of this formula, focusing especially on the examples of contested property rights (where C is not uniquely defined), and of money in bank accounts and other phenomena (where no physical X‐term is available). Searle responds to these criticisms, above all by pointing to the fact that some of the problems Smith raises are to be addressed not by an ontological analysis of social reality but rather through legal or political means.

Date: 2003
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