Authority versus Truth in Sophocles Antigone and...

â€Å"Authority cannot afford to connive at disobedience† writes Sophocles in Antigone. This is also a central concern to Aristotle who establishes the importance of ‘Authority’ in the opening lines of his treatise Poltics: â€Å"Since we see that every city-state is a sort of community and that every community is established for the sake of some good†¦it is clear that every community aims at some good, and the community which has the most authority of all and includes all the others aims highest, that is, at the good with the most authority. This is what is called the city-state or political community.† [I.1.1252a1–7](added emphasis) He further states that the city-state comes into being for the sake of life but exists for the sake of the good†¦show more content†¦German sociologist Max Weber defines Authority as the legitimate or socially approved use of power that a person or a group holds over another. Legitimacy is vital to his notion of authority and distinguishes it from coercion, force, power or persuasion. This raises the vital question of where this legitimacy comes from. In Traditional type of authority, the legitimacy is drawn from customs long held by the group and which they consider sacred and whole-heartedly subscribe to. Here power passes from one generation to the next and is usually governed by principles of patriarchy and gerontocracy. Rational-legal authority on the other hand is a form of authority with legitimacy that depends on formal rules and established laws of the state, which are usually written down and are often very complex; as found in all modern bureaucratic establishments. The third and most interesting category that Weber defines is Charismatic authority. Charismatic authority is unusual for it is based on the personal charisma of a single individual whom people deem capable of being in authority based on a display of superhuman prowess. This ‘superhuman-ness’ may be actual or imagined,