I make three interrelated arguments in this dissertation. The first argument challenges a tendency to kick away the ladder of metatheory. Because metatheoretical critique is an integral moment of inquiry, we should pull up the ladder after us and use it to address the problems we still face. Reading John Dewey against the grain of contemporary sociology suggests that articulating the methodological significance of reflexive knowledge is one such metatheoretical problem. Although Dewey argued that solving social problems requires communicative knowledge, many pragmatist sociologists focus exclusively on the role of instrumental knowledge. The second argument identifies another problem where the ladder of metatheory is useful. Problem-solving sociologists direct us to solve social problems by generating new causal knowledge. However, the nature of social causality suggests that we should not expect all new causal knowledge to track resolutions to social problems. This is because causal factors are practically infinite, and social problems are moving targets. Consequently, the project of problem-solving sociology needs a methodological strategy for orienting research towards root causes. More generally, sociologists should move towards a less dichotomous understanding of methods that balances the problem of how to systematically answer research questions against the equally important problem of how to systematically ask them. The third argument advocates for reconstructing theories of history along postpositivist lines as one possible way of orienting problem-solving sociology towards root causes. Karl Popper’s influential philosophy of science marginalized theories of history within sociology. Although sociologists have rejected the basic principles of Popper’s philosophy of science, the presupposition of scientism (i.e., the sidelining of social epistemology) continues to obstruct reconstructive efforts. This is especially evident among contemporary constructivists, who reduce their theory of science to the question of representation but ignore the equally important question of experimental activity. A balanced approach clarifies the important role theories of history can play in sociological research. Theorizing the history of society orients research towards questions of causal depth by making the relational interdependence of society the focus, thereby counterbalancing the fracturing drive of Mertonian middle-range theory to narrow the problematics of sociology to substantive, disconnected foci.