For the principles governing the functioning of cooperatives, see Rochdale Principles.

In social science generally and linguistics specifically, the cooperative principle describes how
people interact with one another. As phrased by Paul Grice, who introduced it, it states, "Make
your contribution such as it is required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or
direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged." Though phrased as a prescriptive
command, the principle is intended as a description of how people normally behave in
conversation.

Put more simply, people who obey the cooperative principle in their language use will make sure
that what they say in a conversation furthers the purpose of that conversation. Obviously, the
requirements of different types of conversations will be different.

The cooperative principle can be divided into four maxims, called the Gricean maxims,
describing specific rational principles observed by people who obey the cooperative principle;
these principles enable effective communication.

The cooperative principle goes both ways: speakers (generally) observe the cooperative
principle, and listeners (generally) assume that speakers are observing it. This allows for the
possibility of implicatures, which are meanings that are not explicitly conveyed in what is said,
but that can nonetheless be inferred. For example, if Alice points out that Bill is not present, and
Carol replies that Bill has a cold, then there is an implicature that the cold is the reason, or at
least a possible reason, for Bill's absence; this is because Carol's comment is not cooperative —
does not contribute to the conversation — unless her point is that Bill's cold is or might be the
reason for his absence. (This is covered specifically by the Maxim of Relation; see Gricean
maxims).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooperative_principle

nition
The cooperative principle is a principle of conversation that was proposed by
Grice 1975, stating that participants expect that each will make a “conversational
 
contribution such as is required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted
purpose or direction of the talk exchange.”
Discussion
The cooperative principle, along with the conversational maxims, partly accounts for
  conversational implicatures. Participants assume that a speaker is being cooperative, and
thus they make conversational implicatures about what is said.
Example (English)
 When a speaker makes an apparently uninformative remark such as “War is
  war,” the addressee assumes that the speaker is being cooperative and looks for
the implicature the speaker is making.

www.sil.org/linguistics/.../WhatIsTheCooperativePrinciple.htm - Tembolok - Mirip

Etymology:

Introduced by philosopher Paul Grice (1975; 1989)

Observations:

 "We might then formulate a rough general principle which participants will be expected
(ceteris paribus) to observe, namely: Make your conversational contribution such as is
required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk
exchange in which you are engaged. One might label this the Cooperative Principle."
(Paul Grice, "Logic and Conversation," 1975. Reprinted in Studies in the Way of Words.
Harvard Univ. Press, 1989)

 "Grice fleshed out the cooperative principle in four conversational 'maxims,' which are
commandments that people tacitly follow (or should follow) to further the conversation
efficiently:

http://grammar.about.com/od/c/g/cooperativeprincipleterm.htm