Abstract

LEADERSHIP, I SHALL ARGUE, is a role obligated by social conditions, deriving from the reality of value, and demanding the exercise of courage. Plato, Confucius, and the author of the Books of Samuel enunciated these interlocked themes early in the axial age, and they require fresh reflection in every age. That the bearing of value and courage on leadership is a metaphysical theme, and not merely a topic for political philosophy or Weberian sociology, is a promissory note at this stage in my remarks, to be paid up by their conclusion.