Research is a craft
Research is a mindset
Research is a social institution
"… in today's world, the "special places" of discourse and of argumentation are perishing and dissolving, while immediate visibility is being gained by the "common places," or by generic logical-linguistic forms which establish the pattern for all forms of discourse. This means that in order to get a sense of orientation in the world and to protect ourselves from its dangers, we can not rely on those forms of thought, of reasoning, or of discourse which have their niche in one particular context or another.
…
The multitude of those "without a
home" places its trust in the intellect, in the "common places:"
in its own way, then, it is a multitude of thinkers (even if these thinkers
have only an elementary school education and never read a book, not even under
torture)."
Paolo Virno The Grammar of the Multitude
"a theory is always local and related to a
limited field, and it is applied in another sphere, more or less distant from
it.
Practice is a set of relays from one
theoretical point to another, and theory is a relay from one practice to
another. No theory can develop without eventually encountering a wall, and
practice is necessary for piercing this wall.
…
A theorising intellectual, for us, is no longer a
subject, a representing or representative consciousness. Those who act and
struggle are no longer represented, either by a group or a union that
appropriates the right to stand as their conscience. Who speaks and acts? It is
always a multiplicity, even within the person who speaks and acts. All of us
are "groupuscules."(2)
Representation no longer exists; there's only action-theoretical action and
practical action which serve as relays and form networks.
…
In this sense theory does not express,
translate, or serve to apply practice: it is practice. But it is local and
regional, as you said, and not totalising. This is a struggle against power, a
struggle aimed at revealing and undermining power where it is most invisible
and insidious. It is not to "awaken consciousness" that we struggle
(the masses have been aware for some time that consciousness is a form of
knowledge; and consciousness as the basis of subjectivity is a prerogative of
the bourgeoisie), but to sap power, to take power; it is an activity conducted
alongside those who struggle for power, and not their illumination from a safe
distance. A "theory " is the regional system of this struggle.
…
In this sense theory does not express,
translate, or serve to apply practice: it is practice. But it is local and
regional, as you said, and not totalising. This is a struggle against power, a
struggle aimed at revealing and undermining power where it is most invisible
and insidious. It is not to "awaken consciousness" that we struggle
(the masses have been aware for some time that consciousness is a form of
knowledge; and consciousness as the basis of subjectivity is a prerogative of
the bourgeoisie), but to sap power, to take power; it is an activity conducted
alongside those who struggle for power, and not their illumination from a safe
distance. A "theory " is the regional system of this struggle."
Foucault & Deleuze: Intellectuals and Power
