The Enigma of Authority

4 credits · Graduate

What grounds authority? The notion of authority – whether it be epistemological, scientific, political, religious, or divine – is in some ways linked to questions of power: the power to author and to authorize. But on what basis do we give credit to this power, and how are we moved? In asking what moves us to give, this graduate seminar touches on a key humanistic concern. Why is it that power can be produced, but authority can only be given? Why does a question concerning authority slide so easily into the register of the mystical and the divine? What does authority’s enigmatic origins reveal? Considering the rise of authoritarianism across different political and societal contexts, it is timely to re-visit the problem of authority.