Authority and Reality in the Work of Oliver O’Donovan

Studies in Christian Ethics 29 (4):371-385 (2016)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Running throughout the work of Oliver O’Donovan is a discussion of the nature of authority, and its relation to reality, and to freedom. While holding fast to the maxim that authority is the correlate of freedom, O’Donovan’s understanding of authority moves, as a result of his engagement with the nature of political authority, to emphasise the idea of social mediation. This leads, in the most recent works, to a description of authority as an event in which reality is disclosed. Arguably, this formal account does not adequately distinguish the element of practical direction within authority, meaning that it may struggle to explain some ways in which we speak about authority’s presence, and its misuse. However, there may be resources for making this distinction within O’Donovan’s understanding of judgment as an act of moral discrimination with a twofold form. O’Donovan’s is an elegant and economical account of authority, promising to provide a simple analysis that encompasses the peculiarities of authority and illuminates a wide range of phenomena.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,221

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

The Just War Revisited.Oliver O'Donovan - 2003 - Cambridge University Press.
Law, moderation and forgiveness.Oliver O'donovan - 2001 - Gregorianum 82 (4):625-636.
An “Introduction”.Oliver O’Donovan - 2004 - Nova et Vetera 2.
No Title available.Oliver O'donovan - 1984 - Religious Studies 20 (4):694-695.
2001 Natural Law Lecture: The Path.Oliver O'Donovan - 2011 - American Journal of Jurisprudence 56 (1):1-16.

Analytics

Added to PP
2016-10-11

Downloads
21 (#627,796)

6 months
1 (#1,027,696)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Citations of this work

No citations found.

Add more citations

References found in this work

No references found.

Add more references