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Beauty and Charisma: A Comment on A. Schweitzer's ‘Theory of Political Charisma’

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 June 2009

Joseph Sanders
Joseph Sanders
Affiliation:
The University of Michigan
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Extract

A charismatic leader is like a beautiful woman. Taken as a whole and looked on from afar we can all agree as to the extraordinary nature of the creature. Yet once we begin a detailed analysis of each part we find we have difficulty pointing to exactly those elements that produce the effect. Clinical descriptions may incline us to lust or disgust, but they may fail to inform us as to the ephemeral nature of the phenomenon. For that we often engage, as here, in metaphor.

Type
Charisma
Information
Comparative Studies in Society and History , Volume 16 , Issue 2 , March 1974 , pp. 182 - 186
Copyright
Copyright © Society for the Comparative Study of Society and History 1974

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References

Anyone familiar with Abraham Kaplan's book The Conduct of Inquiry will immediately recognize the substantial debt this comment owes to his perceptive discussion on the vagueness and openness of concepts. This note, in lieu of particular and specific citations, is still inadequate repayment. (Kaplan, A., The Conduct of Inquiry, San Francisco: Chandler Publishing Co., 1964. See especially section 8 on openness of meaning.)Google Scholar