Other Participants' Cooperative Attitude in Legal Context

Abstract

According to Searle, for there to be collective intentionality two elements must be present: an intention-in-action to collectively do something and a belief in the cooperative attitude of other participants. The author argues that this second element poses the requirement of giving an account of the epistemological basis for holding the belief. The author claims that we cannot extend the way in which, according to Searle, the epistemological basis exists in game-like activities to legal institutional facts, in these last cases, due to the fact that legal norms are discussed in midgame and the fact that legal interpretation is highly indeterminate, it is dubious that such a basis exists.