In his famous article Searle states that he is going to show...

In his famous article Searle states that he is going to show that the venerable view to the effect that ‘ought’ cannot be derived from ‘is’ is flawed by presenting a counterexample to this view.

He then says: It is not of course to be supposed that a single counter-example can refute a philosophical thesis, but in the present instance if we can present a plausible counter-example and can in addition give some account or explanation of how and why it is a counter-example, and if we can further offer a theory to back up our counter-example - a theory which will generate an indefinite number of counter-examples - we may at least cast considerable light on the original thesis.[^28] The needed theory has been long in the making.

Speech Acts , in which “How to Derive ‘Ought’ From ‘Is’” was reprinted with minor modifications, was indeed the first step; but it is only with the publication of his two most recent major works - The Construction of Social Reality (1995) and Rationality in Action (2001) - that we have…