" Authority. Right or power to command, to be obeyed "From ancient times to the present day, in every culture, authority - sovereignty, the sacred, the book, dogma - has been the foundation of social order. But today ? In virtual space, what authority remains ?
Authority is everywhere and nowhere. Law, philosophy, religion, political science, economics, sociology - all these fields of knowledge will be questioned on the function they have ascribed and ascribe to authority, on the need for authority, on the effects of its absence, on laissez-faire and regulation.
Science has spoken out against the argument of authority, but there is authority in science and authority in the sciences. All the exact, human and social sciences deal with authority. How is consensus built in research ? How is scientific authority defined ? What kind of submission does it require ? What kind of contestation does it allow ?
Today, there are more and more independent authorities. Is this the result of our growing distrust of state authority ?
Nulla auctoritas nisi a Deo," goes the medieval adage coined by Saint Paul. " There is no authority that does not come from God How can authority be founded in the 21st century ?
