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

在一个公平对待社会及其机构周围物质环境的框架内界定社会和机构现实的本体论是一项挑战。该奖项将支持一个关于土地、财产和社会本体论的研讨会，该研讨会将促进我们对社会进程及其结果的知识和理解。它植根于这样一种观点，即土地转变为财产是一个基本的社会过程，迄今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发挥着至关重要的作用，特别是在欠发达国家。研讨会将邀请哲学家John Searle和经济学家Hernando de Soto以及一个由多学科专家组成的关于这一主题的小组，讨论我们在特定的土地背景下对社会制度和经济发展的理解方面的当前发展。瑟尔和德索托最近都写了一些书，在学术界内外产生了广泛的影响。塞尔的《社会现实的构建》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获胜而在其他地方失败》则引发了一场关于土地、资本和发展的小革命。塞尔是一位国际知名的哲学家，他的著作也在语言学、计算机科学和社会科学等学科产生了相当大的影响。德索托是利马自由与民主研究所所长。他为整个拉丁美洲和(目前)中东地区的政府担任顾问。虽然塞尔和德索托是私下相识的，而德索托的《资本论之谜》本身在一定程度上受到了塞尔的社会本体论思想的影响，但两人从未一起出现在公共场合。这次研讨会将把这两位极富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。已邀请更多的专家就这些问题发表意见，并通过塞尔和德索托的工作，为新的社会本体论作出贡献，该本体论目前正在建立中。讲习班将就土地信息系统在建立有效的市场机构和在培育欠发达国家的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正式说明是为信息管理系统提供适当工具的关键基础，本次会议将有助于为土地、地籍和财产法领域制定这样一个本体论。讲习班还将有助于在地理范围内建立社会现实的其他方面的本体论。一本编辑过的书，包括为会议准备和提交的文件，将促进该项目的更广泛影响。来自几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，将举行会议，以确定未来对该主题的研究的优先事项。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.