When Searle's distinction between constitutive and regulative rules is applied to oracle consultation, we can see that some of the puzzlement Evans-Pritchard felt about Zande thoughtwhich he attributed to its mystical character-was unnecessary. Instead of drawing the analogy between Zande oracle consultation and western science, I suggest we should draw an analogy between Zande oracle consultation and games, because of the similarity between the kinds of rules that operate in these practices. This analogy reveals what kind of conventional activity Zande oracle consultation is and dissipates some puzzles Evans-Pritchard created out of his own misunderstanding of the nature of rules in this institution.
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Emily Martin Ahern (1982) studied this question.
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