The Background Power in Searle’s Social Ontology

Abstract

This essay aims to provide an analysis of Searle’s concept of Background power and of its role in his social ontology. It is divided in three parts. The first part is a short introduction on the concept of Background and the relations between it and the concept of Background power. In the second part, I furnish an analysis of the so-called exactness constraint and the intentional constraint on same. In the third part, I make three observations on the theory of Background power.