How Ideas Are Used as Instruments of Tyranny and Dictatorship.

Class One: An Introduction to Authoritarian Ideology.

Part One: Authoritarianism: What is It?

A) What is the Purpose of Authoritarian Ideology

B) How Authoritarian Ideologies Facilitate Political Control

Part Two: The Foundations of Authoritarian Thought.

A) Authoritarian Theories of Reality: Metaphysical Idealism; Metaphysical Materialism; Heracliteanism.

B) The Organic Theory of the State

C) Creationism As a Justification for Economic Dictatorship. 

D) Psychological Determinism As a Premise of Social Darwinism.

E) Subverting Political Morality by Undermining Our Grip On Reality 

Class Two: Authoritarian Mind Control: Epistemology.

Part One: Authoritarian Theories of Knowledge and Truth.

A) Faith: Why Authoritarian Ideologies are Faith-Based.

B) Skepticism: The Destruction of Knowledge.

C) Pragmatism: The Destruction of Truth.

Class Three: Authoritarian Theories of Ethical Morality.

Part One: The Ethics of Slavery.

A) Duty

B) Asceticism

C) Quietism 

Part Two: The Ethics of the Masters:

A) The Sophists: Skepticism, Subjectivism, and Might Makes Right.

B) Nietzsche and the Will to Power.

C) Existentialism and Post-Structuralism.

Concluding Remarks: Resistance.

A) How Regular Citizens Can Resist Authoritarian Ideologies.

B) How Educators Can Resist Authoritarian Ideas.

Instructor: Ben McBroom

Ben McBroom resides in Anacortes and has been an independent student of authoritarian ideologies—the ideologies that provide justificatory premises for dictatorships and autocracies—for over 40 years. Under the nom de plume "Aengus Song," Mr. McBroom has published three books about authoritarian ideas and presented a three-part lecture series about these ideas under the auspices of the Anacortes Public Library.