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A critical ethic in a knowledge economy: research degree candidates in the workplace

This paper provides a philosophical viewpoint to questions regarding the role and purpose of the research degree. Drawing on non‐binary accounts of knowledge within the philosophical tradition, it argues against the instrumentalist conception of applied knowledge evident within higher education policy. The paper identifies a critical ethic at work within the views of research candidates who do a research degree to complement an established professional career. A parallel is identified between the critical ethic that is evident within professional's conceptions of the role and value of a research degree and the notion of philosophy as a way of life that was prevalent in antiquity. The implications for research pedagogy of treating criticality as a way of life are then explored through Ronald Barnett's alternative model for higher education as a facilitator of ‘critical being’.