Constitutive Rules [Special Issue]
Issue: Issue 07 • Author/s: John Searle
Topics: Philosophy of language, Theoretical philosophy
Regulative rules regulate preexisting forms of behavior, constitutive rules make possible new forms of behavior. They constitute the phenomena they regulate. Brute facts can exist independently of any institutions. Institutional facts require pre-existing institutions, which consist of systems of constitutive rules. Constitutive rules create new forms of reality, with new powers, they typically require language, and they are the basis of human civilization.