Theoretical knowledge is essential to graduate education. Its absence in graduate school curricula hinders the development of creative minds and thus limits the education of future researchers in the field. Here, the author reviews the importance of ethical and political interests in research and graduate education, based on the fundamental principles underlying the theory of critical rationalism by K. Popper and the work of J. Habermas. This analysis supports the view that ethical and political interests in research should be incorporated into graduate education curricula.
Research; epistemology; graduate education