Empirical theory building in the human and social sciences may be mathematically supported by methods of Formal Concept Analysis which is the main theme of this paper. Those theories are considered which can be formalized by a contextual attribute logic. The empirical data are coded by formal contexts whose attribute logic can be used for representing scientific theories. Specific formal contexts, namely conceptual scales, are representing aspects of a theory. Their aggregation by the semiproduct and by the apposition yield a more complete representation of the theory. The gap between the theoretical and the empirical side becomes apparent by comparing the semiproduct and the apposition representation. In an iterative process of theory building this gap should be diminished. Specific support is given by algebraic representations of formal contexts which are used to represent scientific theories.