Authority versus Truth in Sophocle's Antigone and Shakespeare's Twelfth Night

“The law alone leads to political order. If laws are adjusted to the time, there is good government. If government fits the age, there will be great accomplishment. Therefore, when the people are naïve, if you regulate them with fame, there will be good government; when everybody in the world is intelligent, if you discipline them with penalties, they will obey. While time is moving on, if laws do not shift accordingly, there will be misrule; while abilities are divers, if prohibitions are not changed, the state will be dismembered…Indeed, if the state is orderly, the people are safe; if affairs are confused, the country falls into peril…Yet everybody’s likes and dislikes should be regulated by the superior.”

The purpose of this essay is to analyse Weber’s theory of authority and power in order to establish its role in the modern contemporary world today. Weber, in his most acclaimed writings, discusses his three ideal types of authority being outlined as traditional, charismatic and rational-legal authority. He believes that in order for any political leader or political establishment to hold legitimate authority over its peoples, they must have either one of these types of authority. All of these types of power and authority can be referred to in some way in today’s contemporary world using examples of differing political leaders and systems. However, Weber’s writings were conducted in 1922 and may be considered as out-dated, and not as relevant as they were at his time of writing. Also, many dispute that Weber’s types of authority were perhaps not entirely relatable and Martin Spencer, like many other critics of Weber’s work in fact argue that there should have been four types of authority. Hence why these issues must be discussed in order to conclude whether Weber’s ideal types of authority are representative of political leaders and governments, and whether or not they can be associated with the contemporary world we live in today.

Aristotle provides very unique and compelling arguments for what he believes to be the ideal form of government for a city-state, but because of the time period he was alive, he did not have the necessary knowledge to realize how limited his view of human nature was. Due to its limited power and sole purpose being to protect individuals’ right to own property, which in turn allows individuals to live happy lives, Locke’s form of government is more

Authority is something probably most people want to have. Authority is the power or right to give order and enforce rules. In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, John Procter, John Hale, and Governor Danforth all show an immense amount of authority throughout the play. I know that Governor Danforth shows the most power in the play, especially with how many questions he asks to get answers. Miller really establishes who has the power throughout the story.

In Weber’s article he claims that there are specific types of domination, which stress the importance of establishing “legitimacy” as a leader, within a group of people. He supports this opening claim in his introduction paragraph, in which he defines the authority of domination “classified” by the “kind of claim” demanded (2). He ultimately supports his by breaking down the types of legitimacy in domination in three distinct categories: Legal authority, traditional authority, and charismatic authority (3). He supports his argument through theoretical examples in which he assumes the reader has a background in. The assumptions include: knowledge of basic authoritative environments such as work setting or school that are applied to his

Questioning authority is an important part of democracy as demonstrated in the Greek Tragedy Antigone. A major plot point in Antigone is that the ruler, Creon, does not listen to his people and tries to limit free speech. However, this results in his corruption, because he rules solely by his own terms and does not realize his mistakes. For example, in Antigone a guard literally questions authority saying to Creon, “Does it sting in your ears or in your soul?” (327).

Max Weber identified three classifications of authority: traditional, charismatic and legal-rational authority. Traditional authority is based on traditional customs and values, such as a monarchy. Charismatic authority is based on one's personal traits and likeability. Legal-rational authority is based on the office one holds, such as that of the Prime Minister of Canada (as cited in Garner, Ferdinand, Lawson & MacDonald, 2009). Understanding Weber's classifications of authority will be beneficial when analysing how Trudeaumania proved to be advantageous for Pierre Trudeau in his quest for political power.

I believe that an advantage of small state and local government is the power of coercion. States have the power to enforce criminal codes, administer health and safety rules, and regulate family via marriage and divorce laws. (Ch.3 pg. 68). Within a “small state and local government” the state has the power to do what they feel is best for their people. The state uses “police power” as indicated in chapter three in order to maintain order in the public. Also in local governments, the rule with “home rule” so that they manage things on their own for their state. In a community that falls under the rule “small state and local government” the states government solely focuses on the representation of an individual rather than the nation as a whole.

As stated in the last paragraph, man cannot exist without reason. Since the mind cannot exist without reason, man has discovered the natural law that has been put into nature by the gods to establish reason and contentment. In his reasoning, Cicero states that, “every law that deserves the name of a law, ought to be morally good and laudable” and “laws were originally made for the security of the people, for the preservation of states, for the peace and happiness of society” (Cicero 3). These statements by Cicero explain that god has put these laws into nature for man to discover and to better the society. To improve a society, a strong authority figure is needed to enforce these

Some contemporary Scholars like Quentin Skinner define the state today as "a locus of power distinct from either the ruler or the body of the body of the people." (Skinner, Foundations of Modern Political Thought, II, p.355). Yet, others would argue that the potency of the word "state" derives from the fact that it means both ruler and people. In other words, the state is at the same time loved for its promise of order and stability for the whole community and feared for its threat of coercion by the power which does the ordering. Both schools of thought may be right for there is no universal definition of the concept. But no intellectual discussion about the concept of the state is complete without a review of the writings of St. Thomas

In this paragraph Weber is discussing the social order of Party, which is the legal power that is set within the state structure. Weber is interested in how we understand things, authority, and in what situations authority works and, why we behave in certain ways with different actions. In this passage,

According to Weber, “sociological analysis will treat [people] on the same level as...men who are the "greatest" heroes...according to conventional judgements,” that addresses the subject of authority (Types of Legitimate Domination, 242.) In other words, those who display a charismatic, genuine nature as leaders, will receive a different admiration from their followers that resonates with that character that they’re putting forward.

Weber’s second type of influence is charismatic authority. Charismatic authority is characterized by a leader with rare personal features that attract others to them. Charismatic leaders have qualities that are powerful and challenging

Finally, charismatic authority arises in periods of social unrest and change and thus depends not only on the existence of this `exceptional' individual but a social context which produces large numbers of individuals who are `disenchanted' with the present social institutions. Charisma, is in Weber's view ` a great revolutionary force' for social change. Charismatic movements always seek to dismantle or overthrow existing/traditional forms of authority and power. Finally, Weber suggests charismatic authority as inherently unstable since it is usually based upon a `personality cult' of the leader. When the leader dies then the movement will `die' with him/her or ossify and institutionalise itself into what Weber refers to as `the charisma of office': bureaucracy! Look at Fig. 1, (at the bottom of page 2 of this document) which I have taken and adapted from Bryan Turner's book. To understand the historical process we will need to begin with the `magician' and move `clockwise' towards `secular man'.

     Weber identifies several different types of authority. One is traditional legitimacy, which states that authority is bestowed upon someone based on traditional roles of authority, such as the pope or even the parents of children. Charismatic authority tells us that some are granted legitimacy to have authority over our lives by sheer charisma, such as Martin Luther King jr., Adolf Hitler and Gandhi. The third type of authority is rational-legal authority. This states that we grant legitimacy based upon the office they serve. An example of this is the inherent authority of Jesse Ventura over the people of Minnesota, simply because he holds the title of governor.