On the Difference of the Approaches of Searle and Durkheim to the Description of Social Reality

The article is devoted to the comparison of the social ontology of John Searle with the social theory of Emile Durkheim. It was shown that the approaches of Searle and Durkheim have  a number of similar features. These common features are the rejection of reductionism of the collective to the individual, attention to language as one of the most important conditions  of the emergence of social reality, the recognition of unawareness and automatism in accepting the rules of social interaction by its participants. However, there are certainly differences between the conceptions of Searle and Durkheim, and therefore the possibility of influence  of analytic philosophy represented by Searle on social theory is obvious. As the basis from which this discrepancy arises, the author points to the understanding of science and the level of objectivity of scientific research that have changed since by the time of Searle.

Keywords: social ontology, individual intentionality, collective intentionality, social fact, institutional fact.