The sciences of man, conciously or not, work on significations. It is therefore desirable that they learn from hermeneutics, which is the science of interpretation; and interpretation of behaviour uses the same methods and comes upon the same difficulties as interpretation of texts. The history of hermeneutics has shown the various dimensions of symbols: neutral aspect of textual configurations, poietical aspect of production strategies and aesthetic aspect of reception strategies. Hermeneutics is a semiology, but semiology is also a hermeneutics. Both (...) must merge into a theory of symbolic forms of peircean inspiration, which will transcend the traditional apories of hermeneutics and the uncertainties of semiology. (shrink)