Analysis based on the concept of interaction is liable to be associated with the interactionist tradition,which only understands action when it is strategically oriented and experienced in a shared manner.Only the most prominent elements of an interaction are selected,to the detriment of others.This operation then becomes a precondition for the existence of a relation between the participants in an interaction.We must,however,realise that this tradition accords a certain power to the perspectives of each of the individuals mutually entering into action.Reciprocal intelligibility would appear to be the basis,or even the condition,of these perspectives.For some empiricists,such as W.James and G.H.Mead,this kind of intelligibility is on the contrary difficult to attain and,at best,transitory.