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What is authority and how much should it be valued?

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Deckard
 
Reply Fri 1 Jan, 2010 07:37 pm
What is authority? Again, I would like to play the role of questioner here. I want to gain insights from others not convince people of my own beliefs. Anyone can look the word up in wikipedia or a dictionary so I am particularly interested in the second half of the question as to how much should it should be valued. Is authority something that is necessary? Is authority something that is in decline or lacking in present western societies? What about authority in government? in religion? in academia?
 
kennethamy
 
Reply Fri 1 Jan, 2010 08:39 pm
@Deckard,
Deckard;116193 wrote:
What is authority? Again, I would like to play the role of questioner here. I want to gain insights from others not convince people of my own beliefs. Anyone can look the word up in wikipedia or a dictionary so I am particularly interested in the second half of the question as to how much should it should be valued. Is authority something that is necessary? Is authority something that is in decline or lacking in present western societies? What about authority in government? in religion? in academia?


In the sense of "authority" you seem to be intending, an authority is a person (or persons) empowered to make decisions (and perhaps enforce them too) by either law of custom. Like the police, for example. In a different sense of "authority" an authority is an expert in some area of knowledge. Like a professor of the history of philosophy, or a physician.

The dean of (say) the college of liberal arts and sciences in an academic institution is an authority in the first sense of "authority" and may, or may not be an authority in the second sense of "authority".
 
Deckard
 
Reply Sat 2 Jan, 2010 12:25 am
@kennethamy,
kennethamy;116205 wrote:
In the sense of "authority" you seem to be intending, an authority is a person (or persons) empowered to make decisions (and perhaps enforce them too) by either law of custom. Like the police, for example. In a different sense of "authority" an authority is an expert in some area of knowledge. Like a professor of the history of philosophy, or a physician.

The dean of (say) the college of liberal arts and sciences in an academic institution is an authority in the first sense of "authority" and may, or may not be an authority in the second sense of "authority".


Authority, in both senses, is dependent on the existence of some institution. The college in the case of the professor and the state in the case of the police officer. Is there a type of authority that does not depend upon an institution?

It seems that there is. The expert in an area of knowledge does not necessarily need to be attached to any institution of higher learning.

I think most will say that this doesn't work in the case of law enforcement. Without the state to back him/her the police officer would be a vigilante.

I suppose the vigilante could get his/her authority from somewhere else. The God maybe, or the categorical imperative or the voice of conscience?
 
Fido
 
Reply Sun 3 Jan, 2010 12:43 am
@Deckard,
Deckard;116193 wrote:
What is authority? Again, I would like to play the role of questioner here. I want to gain insights from others not convince people of my own beliefs. Anyone can look the word up in wikipedia or a dictionary so I am particularly interested in the second half of the question as to how much should it should be valued. Is authority something that is necessary? Is authority something that is in decline or lacking in present western societies? What about authority in government? in religion? in academia?

Authority is good but influence is better, because influence is like authority without the power...It depend on the situation but I would say generally not at all...It is just a moral form, and we should always try to arrive at a meaning, but an actual value is out of the question...If this were a democracy we would give all officials all the authority necessary to accomplish our goals...It is never something some one just happens to have lying around...We give our own authority, as a moral form to all who will do good inour names... We have no authority to do evil, so we can give not such power..
 
 

 
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