Authoritarianism

Catalog description

This class seeks to prepare students to combat the threat of tyranny by helping them to understand it. To this end, we will study the history of political philosophy through the lens of theoretical perspectives on authoritarian rule. The class will proceed through close readings of the core texts of the Western tradition, both ancient and modern, and classroom discussions on the ideas they raise. The assignments of this class will be three long papers that ask students to combine textual interpretation with critical analysis.