Items of Altemeyer's 1986 version of the "Right-Wing Authoritarianism Scale" (RWA Scale) were analyzed as philosophical propositions in an effort to establish each item's suggestive connotation and denotation. The guiding principle of the analysis was the way in which the statements reflected authoritarianism's defining characteristics of conventionalism, aggression and submission, and by implication, what it may mean, in each case, to harbor authoritarian principles. The analysis was undertaken largely in response to concerns expressed by several subjects who had completed the RWA Scale, as to how anyone could agree in any way with protrait items. Such concerns were often a two-part expression: bewilderment over what must be going on in the heads of authoritarians, and the follow-up hypothesis that they must not know to what they are assenting when agreeing to authoritarian propositions. This project is an effort to get at just what it is that authoritarianism connotes. As to whether authoritarian personalities are conscious of the philosophical implications of their beliefs is a matter for further research. Appendix 1 lists components of authoritarianism, and appendix 2 presents a definition. (Contains 13 references.) (Author)