Ancient
Greece & You
Joe Greenwald, Champlain Valley
Union High School, VT
Authority
The actual word "authority,"
seems to convey many meanings to the human mind. Specifically,
it was a hot topic during Ancient Greece. New laws were being
formed and many were questioned. For example, in Plato's "Four
Dialogues," Socrates questions the validity of the rules
by which he is forced to abide by. Similarly, today, many of
the convicted and even law abiding citizens are always questioning
what they consider to be "rightful" laws.
Of course authority and
laws are separate entities, but we assume them common because
they complement each other. Authority gives the laws and laws
are a result from a higher authority. In the dictionary, authority
is defined as "legitimate power." But even that doesn't
really define all the parameters of authority. It is also debatable
whether authority and power are similar. Due to its ambiguity,
power can have many definitions. In one sense power can be seen
as submitting yourself to authority, but in the broader sense
to have power is to be able to acquire what you need by affecting
the behavior of others. There are two main types of authority;
de jure and de facto. The differences between the two, mainly
have to do with the way the word authority is used.
To put it simply, de jure authority can be viewed as a set of
rules whereby certain people are authorized to do some things
but not others. De jure stresses that the extent of authority
depends not on whether he/her can others to act but on what actions
are open to him/her within the rules.
De facto authority exists whenever a human recognizes another
as entitled to command him/her. To have de facto authority is
to stand out as having a certain relation to other people; that
one can make them do what they command, because they are "convinced"
to do so. The relationship of de facto authority arises from
de jure , whereby some principles of legitimacy gives a ruler
the right to command.
The less a leader's authority is maintained in de jure, the more
it will depend on the leader's continuing success; by faith in
his own mission and the ability to communicate this with others.
The Greeks and Romans were mainly concerned about who has the
right to exercise authority, under what conditions and within
what limits? They were taught that God was authority. Locke,
Rousseau, and Hobbes all shared different views on authority.
Locke questioned, "if men are born free, what can justify
their chains?" Hobbes made the statement, "every particular
man is author of all the sovereign doth." Rousseau believed
that, in order to be justified, authority must be self-imposed
and that all must agree upon its boundaries.
Authority is something that may never be a fully defined term,
because as we enter new ages, we are forced to question certain
rules. And how can we follow rules, when our so-called "leaders"
aren't following them at all?
In my opinion, I believe that power and authority are separate
terms. The word power seems oppressing to me, but I think authority,
in some form, is essential to maintain some sort of agreement.
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Complementary
Resources
CTCWeb Resources
Roots
of English: an Etymological Dictionary
The
Heart of the Matter: Gods, Grief, and Freedom in Aeschylus' Orestia
The
Classical Symposium in Greek Art
Maecenas:
Images of Ancient Greece and Rome
Women
in the Oikos: The Stranger Within
Knowledge Builders
Dress & Costume, Zeus,
Colonization, Homer's Iliad &
Odyssey,
and more.
Teachers' Companions
Dress & Costume, Zeus,
Colonization, Homer's Iliad &
Odyssey,
and more.
Other Resources
The
Perseus Project
History of Ancient Philosophy
Exploring Ancient World Cultures
Global Glossary Terms
- Homer
- Plato
- Ptolemy
- Galen
- Socrates
- Sophists
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