Free Authority, Power, Transcendental Percepts Essay Example

Lonegron perceives authority as linked to authenticity. In his view, authenticity is the expression of being intelligent, reasonable and responsible and these three attributes are the signs of authority. According to Lonegron, whatever lacks authenticity, hence, whatever is not intelligent, reasonable and responsible, defines inauthenticity or naked power. This point of Lonegron’s philosophy on authority entails that intelligence, reasoning and responsibility dictates authority. While I agree that these attributes are significant aspects that contribute to establishing authority, I believe that they are insufficient for attaining the authority.
Intelligent, reasonable and responsible people can have all these three attributes, yet they can lack authority. I support Lonegron’s point of view, according to which that these three features are describing the authenticity, but I consider that people who possess these qualities require more to achieve authority. Therefore, authenticity, through its three attributes (intelligence, reasoning and responsibility) contributes to shaping authority, but a significant aspect in attaining the authority is the attitude. The inner force and energy directed towards a specific goal with self-confidence and relevance, combined with the three attributes of authenticity generate authority.
Authority encapsulates a form of politics. Solely being intelligent, reasonable and responsible portrays the qualities of a dignified and respectable person, but it does not portray the official authority, which, according to Lonegran, is the official power.
Lonegran refers to the shared values and meanings of communities based on cooperation, considering these aspects as the source of power. As such, the author holds that communities, through their fundamental social role of celebrating the cooperation by sharing similar thoughts, ideas and values, are the ones that have the authority. However, they invest their power to the official holders of the authority, making a transfer of power for the purpose of representing the communities’ needs. Lonegran sees the official authorities that represent the communities as working in the communities’ interest, translating the sense of cooperation and the consent existent within communities, while communities are the actual carriers of authority. As an ideology, Lonegran’s differentiation of authority and authorities is just and eloquent. However, besides this utopian view on authority and authenticity, the real life experiences teach us that the official authorities can influence the actual authority (communities) to change their values, ideas, perceptions and to consent to other objectives, distinct from their own objectives. This is what authorities can do, using intelligence, but of course, without exercising the reasoning and responsibility in the benefit of the community. In this case, it is the mere power that dictates, according to Lonegran’s philosophy, as it does not entail the three principles of authenticity. The mere power lacking authority means unauthentic authority, which, according to the philosopher, generates favoritism, which feeds suspicion, opposition, hatred or violence, destroying the sense of community, hence the sense of authentic authority. Although Lonegran describes the mean power as inauthentic authority or naked power, I see it as a real power, destructive power that can generate the decline of the authentic power, of authority.
Lonegran believes that the authority is transcendental as it is entrenched in history, progressing in line with the expression of authenticity, through increased intelligence, reasoning and responsibility. Indeed, authentic power and authority are transcendental precepts, because they are beyond the human practice, and they evolve on another rhythm, towards which humans can only aspire. The transcendental precepts indicate that the authentic power rehearsed and improved for ages lead to authority. Humans can only adhere to transcended precepts in their lifetime, which is limited, allowing a limited expression of authority.