The theory of communicative action is tailored to the needs of social theory. Initially, it contributes to the theory of meaning. We understand a speech act when we know what makes it acceptable. Furthermore, the theory of communicative action aims to seek out the reason embedded in everyday communicative practice and to reconstruct an unabridged concept of reason from the validity basis of speech. Finally, the theory of communicative action takes up certain critical impulses that have originated from language philosophy since Humboldt (up to Austin and Rorty). It critiques the one-sided orientation of Western philosophy towards the world of being.