I am not Foucault... Am I Habermas?

I decided to take this quiz three times on different days just to see if my results would change. On the first day I was Jürgen Habermas. A few days later I retook the quiz and was again Jürgen Habermas. I immediately retook the quiz and ended up with Michel Foucault. Before this quiz I had not heard of Habermas and I’m not a fan of Foucault.

While I initially disagreed with the quiz in assigning Foucault as my epistemology, I see some of his research interests in my own. I’m thinking of the sentence, “You think that history doesn’t have any overarching pattern, but reflects an ongoing struggle between different people and groups making truth claims that serve their interests.” With the upcoming SSHRC proposal and last week’s blog, I’m looking at the influence of a marginal social group, the Lollards, on large social movement, the English Reformation. While Foucault is never (at least to my knowledge) mentioned in Medieval history, I could apply his theories to my research.

Based on the quiz, Habermas understands that humans interpret and take meaning in the world. Researchers cannot separate themselves from their research, and therefore must use rational thought and argument to come to a conclusion. I definitely agree with this, and I am always attempting to remove myself from my research. Now this can be a little tricky for historical research, since it is your interpretation of a historical event that formulates your research interest. Yet, a good researcher cannot let their opinions affect strong arguments that support the thesis.

I think the quiz was somewhat accurate in determining my epistemology, but not really. It showed me different aspects of my research methods I didn’t think of before, such as Foucault’s emphasis on power and knowledge, and Habermas’ rationalization. However, this quiz will not change the shape of my research question or how I conduct research. I personally lean towards discovery research, where I have an idea and I want to learn more about it and that research generates my research question. I am not about to start applying Foucauldian theories to medieval history, though I will continue to be rational in my research and not apply any biased opinions to my interpretations of the research.