Power Versus Authority: Sacrifice Lied or Applied?
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Authors
Coutts, Conor
Advisor
Elvira Roncalli
Editor
Date of Issue
2017-12-11
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Citation
Series/Report No.
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Title
Power Versus Authority: Sacrifice Lied or Applied?
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Type
Paper
Description
Abstract
We live in an age that is both desperate for moral authority while simultaneously not knowing what genuine moral authority is. Authority from merely a standard of wealth and political office is not morally legitimate but instead merely powerful. I seek to differentiate between power and authority, asserting that it is through a sense of sacrifice and a disregard for popularity that moral authority is attained. Looking to the Abrahamic faiths that assert such a sacrifice and humility, the life of Christ and subsequent Christian tradition serve as an ideal practice of this. Such a practice of authority and how it is interpreted is significantly influenced by art and mass media, therefore I will analyze two films that display the struggle between power and authority and described by what means the authoritative figure has to go through to triumph. Through engagement with the experiences in film, a necessity of community aries, and how communities choose power over authority largely comes from the decision to either serve the self or serve the other.
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Degree Awarded
Semester
Fall
Department
Philosophy