74

This article is based on an inquiry at the Centre de sociologie de l'innovation (CSI), a “constructivist” research center led by Bruno Latour and Michel Callon. The aim of the inquiry was to identify, according to a method elaborated by Gerald Holton, the constructivist “thêmata,” i.e. the interpretative principles that underlie the practice of sociology by representatives of this paradigm. Based on a series of interviews with members of the CSI, we present three thematic oppositions upon which constructivism rests: process vs  essence, innovation vs  tradition, and continuity vs  discontinuity. We then specify the relevance of the thematic approach for the understanding of the nature of sociological paradigms, and more generally for the sociology of the social sciences.