H. P. Grice: The Strategies of the Conversational Game

strategic action: For Habermas, a model of action, in contrast to communicative action, in which the participants direct their actions through egocentric calculation of utility. Each agent seeks appropriate means to achieve an end with a favorable outcome for himself. Strategic action is not reciprocal and is not performed on the basis of mutual understanding. In communicative action, participants harmonize their respective plans on the basis of having a common understanding of the situation, and make claims that all concerned can accept as valid. The distinction between strategic action and communicative action provides the framework by reference to which Habermas seeks to explain a wide range of social phenomena. “Strategic action is distinguished from communicative actions under common conditions by the characteristic that deciding between possible alternative choices can in principle be made monologically – that means, ad hoc without reaching agreement, and indeed must be made so, because the rules of preference and the maxims binding on each individual partner have been brought into prior harmony.” Habermas, Theory and Practice