John Searle's ideal type: Max Weber and the construction of social realit

In this dissertation, I propose that John Searle's "X counts as Y in C" formula, which purports to trace the logical structure of institutional reality, is best understood as an ideal type. This contrasts with view that the X counts as Y in C formula characterizes foundational structures presupposed by any account of institutional reality. Ideal types, as characterized by Max Weber, are tools or instruments that propel research programs in the social sciences. It is Weber's contention that our descriptions of social reality are always less complicated than the object of those descriptions. We should, then, expect that there are other ways to articulate institutional phenomena that do not rely on Searle's formula.