ABSTRACT

Studies of the social world investigate a wide range of phenomena that are termed "social rules", that have social rules as constituent parts, or in explanations of which "social rules" play an important role. In some descriptions or explanations of social behavior, "social rule" refers simply to a regularity of behavior among members of some group. As an individual may have many reasons for action, the existence of a social rule in the normative sense does not necessarily imply any social regularities of behavior. Legal norms present a stark instance of the entanglement of different conceptions of social rule. Social rules as regularities of behavior may offer an observer of the society a useful characterization of behavior in that society but such social rules do not provide members of the society with any reasons for action. The social rule itself is not authoritative in the sense that it provides a reason for action distinct from the agent's self-interest.