Phenomenology and Mind

No. 3 (2012): Norms, Values, Society: Phenomenological and Ontological Approaches
Session 2. Institutional Life

Challenging the Constitutive Rules Inviolability Dogma

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  • Guglielmo Feis,
  • Umberto M. Sconfienza
DOI: https://doi.org/10.13128/Phe_Mi-19612

Published 2016-11-26

Keywords

  • constitutive rules,
  • inviolability dogma

How to Cite

Feis, G., & Sconfienza, U. M. (2016). Challenging the Constitutive Rules Inviolability Dogma. Phenomenology and Mind, (3), 102–110. https://doi.org/10.13128/Phe_Mi-19612
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Abstract

According to Searle (1969) a constitutive rule creates the very possibility of the entity it rules. Later on, other scholars - such as Benoist (2003), Conte (1983), Guastini (1983) - pointed out the inviolability of constitutive rules. In this paper we want to challenge the inviolability dogma by asking the following question: is it possible to have violations of constitutive rules? We will argue that a parametrical approach to constitutive rules can do away with the inviolability dogma. As a result, our approach allows for violations and introduces two different ways of exiting a game (semantic exit vs. practical exit).

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