Workshop: The Construction of Social Reality: The Case of Land

在一个公正对待社会及其制度的周围物理环境的框架内定义社会和制度现实的本体论是一项挑战。该奖项将支持一个关于土地、财产和社会本体的研讨会，该研讨会将促进我们对社会过程及其结果的认识和理解。它植根于这样一种观点，即土地转化为财产是一个基本的社会过程，迄今为止在社会科学中一直被忽视，土地和土地所有权在资本主义的建立和经济发展中起着至关重要的作用，特别是在欠发达国家。研讨会将邀请哲学家约翰·塞尔和经济学家埃尔南多·德索托与多学科领域的顶尖专家一起讨论在特定的土地背景下，我们对社会制度和经济发展的理解的最新进展。塞尔和德索托最近都写了一些在学术界内外都有广泛影响的书。塞尔的《社会现实的建构》提出了一种理解人类社会及其制度的新方法，而德索托的《资本的奥秘：为什么资本主义在西方胜利而在其他地方失败》在思考土地、资本和发展方面引发了一场小革命。Searle是一位国际著名的哲学家，他的作品在语言学、计算机科学和社会科学等学科也有相当大的影响。德索托是总部设在利马的自由与民主研究所的主席。他是拉丁美洲和（目前）中东各国政府的顾问。塞尔和德索托相识，而德索托的《资本之谜》本身也在一定程度上受到塞尔社会本体论思想的影响，但两人从未在公开场合同时出现。本次研讨会将把这两位极具创造力的人聚集在一起，提供一个开放的论坛，研究他们的观点对我们理解经济发展的影响，以及不同的社会机构可能阻碍或促进这种发展的方式。已邀请其他专家就这些问题发表意见，并通过塞尔和德索托的工作，对目前正在建立的新的社会本体论作出贡献。讲习班将就土地资料系统在建立工作市场机构和在较不发达国家培养经济和法律权利方面的作用提供宝贵的观点。一个领域的本体论的明确的正式帐户是信息管理系统的适当工具的关键基础，这次会议将有助于开发这样一个本体论领域的土地，地籍，和财产法一般。讲习班还将有助于在地理尺度上发展社会现实其他方面的本体论。为会议编写并在会议上提出的文件的编辑书将促进该项目产生更广泛的影响。来自多个学科的早期职业学者将直接受益于他们的参与。在最后一天，将有会议确定未来研究该主题的优先事项。最后，该项目将努力促进成果在拉丁美洲和其他地方的实际应用。

It is a challenge to define the ontology of social and institutional reality within a framework which does justice to the surrounding physical environment of society and its institutions. This award will support a workshop on land, property and social ontology that will advance our knowledge and understanding of social processes and their outcomes. It is rooted in the idea that the transformation of land into property is a fundamental social process that has been hitherto neglected in the sciences of society, and that land and land ownership play a vital role in the establishment of capitalism and in economic development, especially in less-developed countries. The workshop will bring philosopher John Searle and economist Hernando De Soto together with a multidisciplinary group of leading experts on the topic, to discuss current developments in our understanding of social institutions and economic development in the particular context of land. Searle and De Soto have both recently authored books that have had broad impact within and outside of academia. Searle's The Construction of Social Reality has advanced a new way of understanding human society and its institutions, while de Soto's The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else has caused a small revolution in thinking about land, capital, and development. Searle is an internationally prominent philosopher whose works have had considerable impact also in disciplines such as linguistics, computer science, and the social sciences. De Soto is President of the Institute for Liberty and Democracy based in Lima. He works as a consultant to governments throughout Latin America and (currently) in the Middle East. While Searle and de Soto are personally acquainted, and while de Soto's Mystery of Capital was itself in part influenced by Searle's ideas on social ontology, the two have never appeared together in public. The present workshop will bring these two highly creative individuals together in such a way as to provide an open forum for examining the implications of their views for our understanding of economic development and of the ways in which different social institutions may hinder or facilitate such development. Additional experts have been invited to contribute their views on these questions and to develop contributions to the new social ontology which, through the work of Searle and de Soto, is currently in process of being established. The workshop will provide valuable perspectives on the role of land information systems in the establishment of working market institutions and in the nurturing of economic and legal rights in less developed countries. Explicit formal accounts of the ontology of a domain are a critical foundation for adequate tools for information management systems, and this meeting will contribute to the development of such an ontology for the domain of land, the cadaster, and property law in general. The workshop also will contribute to the development of an ontology of other aspects of social reality at geographic scales. An edited book consisting of papers prepared for and presented at the meeting will promote the broader impact of the project. Early career scholars from several disciplines will benefit directly from their participation. On the last day, there will be sessions to identify priorities for future research on the topic. Lastly, the project will make efforts to promote the practical application of the results in Latin America and elsewhere.