Abstract

The paper develops an investigation of the constitution of institutions that is based on, but is also critical of the accounts proposed by John Searle in the books The Construction of Social Reality (1996) and Making the Social World (2010). Firstly, it discusses Searle’s (1996) recognition-based account. To deal with some issues concerning the continued existence of institutional entities, the paper offers a version of the recognition-based account that departs in some aspects from his original characterization. Secondly, the paper addresses Searle’s (2010) inclusion of status function declarations in the theoretical framework of his Metaphysics of institutions. The paper presents arguments in favor of the conclusion that Searle’s new, language-based account is neither independent nor as comprehensive as the improved version of the older, recognition-based account, which marks another departure from Searle.