THE ACTION IN A PLAN

A plan is a form of organized collective action, of politics or management. Nowadays planning has come under criticism from theories of action that suppose neither the memorization nor projections required by planning. However planning should not be given up since it ''socializes action'' and shifts it from the individual to the collective level: it is an ''investment of form'' and an ''obligation of generalization''. Planning supposes a shared cognitive equipment; it is molded by the natural language of action. The types of plans examined herein show how planning has to do with ''civic greatness'' and bears the ''requirement of explicitation''.