The Construction of Personal and Nonpersonal Authority (Topoi B-5-8)

In the ancient world, multiple forms of authority construction in the spheres of religion and science(s) were associated with the assertion of knowledge claims in certain social spaces. This sociological perspective of historically oriented authority research is usually contrasted to other strands of research which understand authority as deeply embedded in specifically modern discourses. By integrating both strands of authority research, this project aimed at relating modern analytical concepts of “authority” and “authorization,” shaped as they are by history and being rooted with the Roman term auctoritas, to ancient forms of the construction of authority.