ABSTRACT
Being critical within academia is a matter of the utmost importance. It could be regarded as the primary means of scientific production as well as a scientific end in itself, but it could also be conceptualized as a necessary scientific condition in the sense that science without it probably would not qualify as science at all. With reference to the institutionalized imperatives Merton (1942/1973) outlined to encircle research, one could even argue that being critical forms a crucial and unescapable part of the modernistic scientific ethos together with other highly valued principles, such as communalism, universalism and disinterestedness.
