This thesis work adopts the point of view of educational political philosophy to contemplate a metamorphosis of authority in democratic modernity, in the light of the principle of individualist legitimacy. In this context, we acknowledge the major changes which occurred in modern democracies since 1945, as well as the path of the notion of authority over the same period of time. Then, we consider the syntagmatic articulation of authority and kindness concepts, to turn them into means serving autonomy of individuals. This conceptualization of benevolent authority allows to reconsider, from the very beginning, the link between authority, and the positioning in time and relationships between the beings within democratic modernity, that is to say redesigning the roman trinity authority – religion – tradition. Hence, one can also investigate jointly the questions of authority acknowledgment in its legitimacy, and of the role of authority relationships in everyone’s quest for individual reconnaissance. Thus, the praxis of benevolent authority in education can be explored, allowing to highlight its fruitfulness to face contemporary educational challenges. Considering authority in education as a praxis means renouncing to propose a frozen model of authority, applicable to any situation and for anyone. This approach can only strengthen the assumption of a place of authority. Setting individual authority as a goal of education requires this ethics to be neither moralistic, nor paternalistic nor abstentionist.