Constitutive Rules and Agency
Chapter 7 first analyzes the concept of a constitutive rule in terms of essentially intentional activity patterns. Then it defines a form of constitutive agency in terms of that. Finally, it contrasts the account with John Searle’s. The rules of chess are constitutive rules. Following them brings into existence a type of activity that would not exist otherwise. The rules define an activity pattern that can be instantiated unintentionally. The rules are followed when it is instantiated intentionally. Thus constitutive rules are constitutive relative to an activity type defined as the intentional instantiation of a pattern of activity. Constitutive rules make available a form of constitutive agency in which what an agent does intentionally contributes constitutively to bringing about an essentially intentional activity type. Searle says constitutive rules have the form ‘X counts as Y in C’. But these instead define certain moments in activities governed by constitutive rules.