Directive Order

A Directive Order is a directive speech act that its speaker issues from a position of authority over the addressee, so that the action is assigned without awaiting the addressee's acceptance.

• Context:
  • It can be called an order or a command in everyday speech.
  • It can rest on an authority relation such as a court's over the parties before it or a manager's over a team, which a request does not invoke.
  • It can have a world-to-word direction of fit: it is satisfied when the addressee's action makes the world match what was ordered.
  • It can be issued as a document, such as a work order, as well as spoken.
  • It can still go unperformed: an order assigns the action, but the addressee can fail to carry it out.
  • ...
• Example(s):
  • Mandatory and prohibitory judicial orders, such as an injunction that a court issues to require or forbid an action.
  • Work Orders, which authorize and assign specified work.
  • A military command given to a subordinate.
  • ...
• Counter-Example(s):
  • A Request, a sibling directive speech act made without invoking authority, which the addressee may decline.
  • A Commissive Speech Act, which commits the speaker rather than directing the addressee.
  • An Order Relation, a mathematical relation that shares only the word "order".
  • ...
• See: Directive Speech Act, Request, Judicial Order, Imperative Sentence.

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References

2020

• Mitchell Green. (2020). Speech Acts. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, substantive revision 2020-09-24. Retrieved 2026-10-15; no archive snapshot confirmed. Supports the definition: a command is issued "in her capacity as a person in a position of authority"; and "speech acts such as commands have world-to-word direction of fit".

Undated

• Wikipedia. Illocutionary act. Retrieved 2026-10-15; archived snapshot of 2026-10-11. Supports orders and commands as directives: "e.g. requests, commands and advice"; "an order, a request, etc.".