About a decade ago, an antagonistic debate on the science war arose on both sides of the Atlantic. At issue was how far the social sciences could intervene in disentangling the practice of science. The debate has now calmed down, but has by no means been solved. As a continuation of the antagonism that once haunted the advocates of Karl Popper against those of Thomas Kuhn, versions of this animated debate are likely to arise again. In this light, the theory of inquiry once launched by Charles S. Peirce may prove valuable. Despite early efforts by, amongst others, Karl-Otto Apel and Jurgen...

Action theory, phenomenological sociology, pragmatism and (post)structuralism are often seen as mutually exclusive currents of meaning analysis. This book shows that these traditions are actually complementary, and builds a neostructuralist synthesis on this finding. It also outlines the implications of this cultural theoretical synthesis for the field of social theory. What emerges is a variant of the theory of practice, habit and structuration of society. It shares the contemporary common belief that social theory should be based on cultural theory. Its distinctive mark is that this is done...

Semiotic Sociologyprovides solid ground for cultural analysis in the social sciences by building up a mediation between structuralist semiology (Saussure), pragmatist semiotics (Peirce), and phenomenological sociology (Schutz, Garfinkel, Berger and Luckmann). This is a deviation from the common view that these traditions are seen as mutually exclusive alternatives and thus competitors of each other. The net result of the synthesis is that a new social theory emerges wherein action theories (Weber and rational choice) are based on phenomenological sociology and phenomenological sociology is...