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6 Law Text Culture 7 (2002)
Ethics and Methodology in Legal Theory - A (personal) Research Anti-Manifesto

handle is hein.journals/lwtexcu6 and id is 11 raw text is: Ethics and Methodology in Legal Theory A (personal) research anti-manifesto Margaret Davies' 'When you begin to think, you lose the point'2 The attitude of the critical researcher, as opposed to the traditional researcher into 'objective' knowledge, lies in the conviction that the theorist-researcher is no mere observer or discoverer of knowledge, but is herself embedded in the social, historical, political context in which knowledge is formed (Horkheimer 1968). The critical researcher there- fore aims to be self-reflective, and attentive to the conventional dimen- sions of scholarship. Some methodological questions for the critical researcher might be - what are the norms of 'good' scholarship, where do these derive from in cultural or political terms, on what basis can they be defended, and how should they be challenged or re-formed? Another question of some significance is - how do ethical and politi- cal beliefs influence the substance and methodology of research? This is the issue which I want to focus upon in this brief article, focusing particularly upon methodology. This question has been considered by others: for instance, how does one conduct feminist research in a feminist way (MacKinnon 1987)? How does one conduct research relating to Indigenous people and racial minorities in a way which does not further colonise their knowl- edge or marginalise their culture (Matsuda 1988, 1989)? More broadly, is it possible to do research in a way which challenges established Law Text Culture Vol 6 2002 7