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[[Image:Reading-room-british-museum-2.jpg|left|frame|<center>British Museum Reading Room</center>]]

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In [[politics]], '''authority''' ([[Latin language|Latin]] ''[[auctoritas]]'', used in [[Roman law]] as opposed to ''[[potestas]]'' and ''[[imperium]]'') is often used interchangeably with the term "[[Power (sociology)|power]]". However, their meanings differ.  "Power" refers to the ability to achieve certain ends, 'authority' refers to the legitimacy, justification and right to exercise that power.  For example whilst a Crowd/mob has the power to punish a criminal, such as through lynching, only the courts have the authority to order capital punishment.

In [[politics]], '''authority''' ([[Latin language|Latin]] ''[[auctoritas]]'', used in [[Roman law]] as opposed to ''[[potestas]]'' and ''[[imperium]]'') is often used interchangeably with the term "[[Power (sociology)|power]]". However, their meanings differ.  "Power" refers to the ability to achieve certain ends, 'authority' refers to the legitimacy, justification and right to exercise that power.  For example whilst a Crowd/mob has the power to punish a criminal, such as through lynching, only the courts have the authority to order capital punishment.

 

Since the emergence of [[social science]]s, '''authority''' has been a subject of research in a variety of empirical settings; the family (parental authority), small groups (informal authority of leadership), intermediate organizations such as schools, churches, armies,industrial and bureaucracies (organizational and bureaucratic authority) and society wide or inclusive organizations ranging from the most primitive tribal society to the modern nation-state and intermediate organization (political authority).

Since the emergence of [[Social Sciences|social science]]s, authority has been a subject of research in a variety of empirical settings; the family (parental authority), small groups (informal authority of leadership), intermediate organizations such as schools, churches, armies,industrial and bureaucracies (organizational and bureaucratic authority) and society wide or inclusive organizations ranging from the most primitive tribal society to the modern nation-state and intermediate organization (political authority).

 

The jurisdiction of political authority, the location of sovereignty, the balancing of freedom and authority, the requirements of political obligations have been core questions for political philosophers from Plato and Aristotle to the present.

==Religious perceptions of authority==

==Religious perceptions of authority==

[[Divinity]], as presented in the religious scriptures, makes claim to the final authority for all [[truth]] and [[reality]], and provides rules for and directions for the use of creation. The question of authority in such a system is "what does God want from me and how do I know this?" The source for answers to these types of questions in a divine authority consideration is variable in the human experience. ''[[Absolutism]] is often the result of receiving what is considered a divinely authored experience''. The common experience of man is a religious history. Methods of understanding the connection to [[divinity]] are multiple, all seem to require some measure of faith in divinity and contemplation of perhaps multiple methods of communication.

[[Divinity]], as presented in the religious scriptures, makes claim to the final authority for all [[truth]] and [[reality]], and provides rules for and directions for the use of creation. The question of authority in such a system is "what does God want from me and how do I know this?" The source for answers to these types of questions in a divine authority consideration is variable in the human experience. ''[[Absolutism]] is often the result of receiving what is considered a divinely authored experience''. The common experience of man is a religious history. Methods of understanding the connection to [[divinity]] are multiple, all seem to require some measure of faith in divinity and contemplation of perhaps multiple methods of communication.

For example, in the modern era; the act of observing the [[Eucharist|communion]] or the Lord's supper comes from a combination of direct divine command, approved [[apostolic]] example recorded in scripture, and necessary inference. [[Jesus]] directly states to his disciples that they are to partake of this examination (found in the gospels and rehearsed in the [[First Epistle to the Corinthians]]); there is an example of an apostle and others participating in this act of worship and obedience in the [[book of Acts]], where the day of the observance is mentioned; as with all [[Bible]] references, the reader must infer or understand the direction from God to be applicable to today, and in the case of the regularity of the communion, a weekly occurrence of the first day makes necessary a weekly adherence to the blessing of communion.

For example, in the modern era; the act of observing the [[communion]] or the Lord's supper comes from a combination of direct divine command, approved [[apostolic]] example recorded in scripture, and necessary inference. [[Jesus]] directly states to his disciples that they are to partake of this examination (found in the gospels and rehearsed in the [[First Epistle to the Corinthians]]); there is an example of an apostle and others participating in this act of worship and obedience in the [[book of Acts]], where the day of the observance is mentioned; as with all [[Bible]] references, the reader must infer or understand the direction from God to be applicable to today, and in the case of the regularity of the communion, a weekly occurrence of the first day makes necessary a weekly adherence to the blessing of communion.

==Weber on authority==

==Weber on authority==

==See also==

==See also==

* ''[[Auctoritas]]''

* ''[[Auctoritas]]''

==References==

==References==