Claiming Authority in Public and Private

Mathijs Geurts

University of Salzburg

Claims of authority are thought to be the bread and butter of our social and epistemic life. Whether such claims are accepted determines who can say what and when. Whether they are justified determines whether a  community flourishes or degrades. When we communicate, so the idea goes, we do not only exchange information; we make assertions, suggest avenues of inquiry, propose plans, undertake commitments, and position ourselves as sources others can rely on and sometimes trust. Authority and autonomy are thus not merely features of individual communicators, but something enacted and negotiated in discourse. But how does this proceed, and how fundamental are these processes to our communicative and epistemic practices? This workshop will examine the strength of this perspective, looking at how humans negotiate authority from various angles, tracing its development and its function across the private, communicative, and public spheres.

Time: tba

Location: tba