Advertise on podcast: Professor Kozlowski Lectures

The Bible is a long, difficult text with many apparent conflicts, especially when it comes to a believer's responsibilities to secular government. Here we will look at the seven most obvious models of political participation in the Bible, and try to reach a theology of Godly government. This lecture is intentionally brief (at least by Professor Kozlowski standards), in the interest of clarity and ease of access. If you think it might start some productive conversations, please share it with those who might benefit from hearing it - but be careful: words may be more dangerous than they appear in 2026. Some may be interested in peaceful disagreements; others may only pretend to be; others still may react with violence. Use your discretion. If you are interested in the more robust version of this discussion, with all the direct quotes and references put back in, I recommend my lectures on Politics and the Bible, Medieval Christian Political Philosophy, Conservatism, Communism and Anarchism, and Activism. Just because I don't always show my work doesn't mean I'm not doing it. If you're interested in my other projects, check out my website: ProfessorKozlowski.wordpress.com If you want to support what I'm doing, please consider contributing to my Patreon: patreon.com/professorkozlowski

Professor Kozlowski finally reaches plot development in Goethe's Faust, Part One.  He discusses Margareta as a character, Faust's (and the audience's) relationship to her, and the looming sense of destruction hanging over everyone.  What could go wrong?

Professor Kozlowski, introvert and buzzkill extraordinaire, poops on that most famous of lavish, extravagant parties: the one thrown by Gatsby in Chapter 3 of The Great Gatsby. A century of interpreters have mythologized this party as a symbol of doomed American innocence and romance - an innocence Hollywood and the Trump administration seem determined to re-create. Are we right to idolize the rich, raucous world of Gatsby's roaring twenties - or does the party just suck? To see what other literary classics Professor Kozlowski can ruin for you, check out his website: ProfessorKozlowski.wordpress.com If you want to contribute to Professor Kozlowski's war on fun, please consider his Patreon: patreon.com/professorkozlowski

Professor Kozlowski wraps up his study of political philosophy by discussing the ups and downs of the project, summarizing some of the most important findings, and musing about the future (which will hopefully contain less Hobbes). If you're interested in Professor Kozlowski's other online projects or want to keep up with his work, visit his website: professorkozlowski.wordpress.com If you would like to contribute to Professor Kozlowski's work, please visit his Patreon: patreon.com/ProfessorKozlowski Donations are always appreciated, and mean more time devoted to online projects instead of paid classes! If you'd like to contact Professor Kozlowski directly, use: [email protected]

Professor Kozlowski concludes his series on political philosophy with a look at the nature of propaganda and its (often-unnoticed) effect on language. By examining the ideas of George Orwell's "Politics and the English Language," Harry Frankfurt's "On B******t," and Jason Stanley's How Propaganda Works, we aspire to reach a deeper understanding of how language can serve, insidiously and invisibly, as propaganda. Finally, by examining some excerpts of Amartya Sen's The Idea of Justice, we can see how we can clarify and combat these efforts to confuse and confound our discussions of justice and political decency.

Today Professor Kozlowski investigates a grab bag of other political perspectives, including the radical Utilitarianism of Peter Singer's "Famine, Affluence, and Morality," the Cosmopolitanism prescribed by Martha Nussbaum, and the Native American perspectives on land, community, and individuality discussed by V. F. Cordova and Ted Jojola in their writings. It may not add up to a cogent perspective, but it should offer some enlightening critique of the dominant systems we've discussed so far.

The Ethics of Care presents one of the most cogent and effective alternatives to liberal government theory current today. It is revolutionary, empathetic, inclusive, and compelling. Today, Professor Kozlowski outlines the theory and practice of the Ethics of Care (as presented in Held's The Ethics of Care and Pirate Care by Graziano et al.) as a culmination of his discussions of liberal theory, anarchism, activism, and contemporary political practice. This is what the future could look like, folks. Don't miss it. Additional readings today include: Graeber, Pirate Enlightenment, or the Real Libertalia Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath Silko, Ceremony and a double video game recommendation - probably two of the greatest politically-minded games ever made: Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri Shadowrun: Dragonfall

Professor Kozlowski examines some of the most famous political activists of the twentieth century. Remember that all opinions expressed in this lecture are opinions, both for the speaker and the readings cited, and that you should trust the research, not the authority of the researcher. Today's readings include: Gandhi, Indian Home Rule Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth MLK Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail Malcolm X, The Ballot or the Bullet Malm, How to Blow Up a Pipeline Additional readings include: bell hooks' Ain't I a Woman? De Beauvoir's The Second Sex Warner, The Trouble With Normal Foucault, Ethics Keller, Out of the Dark DuBois, The Souls of Black Folk Deloria, Custer Died for Your Sins MLK Jr., A Gift of Love Delany, Dhalgren LeGuin, The Left Hand of Darkness Butler, The Parable of the Sower Gilman, Herland Schuyler, Black No More Ellison, Invisible Man Kushner, Angels in America and for my video game fans: 1979: Black Friday

Professor Kozlowski continues testing the limits of algorithmic censorship with a discussion of Communism and Anarchism. No references to the Cookbook here, but we are going to look deeply at some widely varied ideas underlying Anarchist thought, and their justifications for fighting against the state, as well as the underpinning ideas of many 20th century activist movements (which we will discuss in the next lecture). Today's readings are: Lenin's What is to be Done? and The State and Revolution Kropotkin's "Law and Authority" Tolstoy's The Kingdom of God is Within You Goldman's "Anarchism" Additional Readings include: Thoreau, "On Civil Disobedience" Mills, The Sociological Imagination Foucault, Discipline and Punish The Chomsky Reader Orwell, Homage to Catalonia Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls Hemingway, To Have and Have Not Huxley, Island Sholokhov, And Quiet Flows the Don LeGuin, The Dispossessed And, of course, the preeminent masterpiece of video games about politics: Disco Elysium

Professor Kozlowski continues his idiotic life choices by reading and critiquing the neo-liberal political philosophy discussion surrounding John Rawls' A Theory of Justice. We'll talk about what Liberalism is, its dominance in the discussion of political philosophy, and its assumptions and blind spots - as well as just getting very frustrated by Nozick's particular brand of Libertarianism. Our readings today come from: FDR's State of the Union addresses in 1941 and 1944 Rawls' A Theory of Justice Nozick's Anarchy, State, Utopia Walzer's "A Defense of Equality" And additional readings include: Friedman's The World is Flat Hayek's The Road to Serfdom Caro's The Power Broker Graeber's B******t Jobs Huxley's Brave New World Gibson's Neuromancer Wallace's The Pale King The Big Short (2015) Sid Meier's Civilization Fate of the World Umurangi Generation If you selfishly and freely wish to meditate on Professor Kozlowski's other individualistic contributions to society, thus patronizing his websites and encouraging more of the same, consider visiting his website: https://professorkozlowski.wordpress.com/

Today, Professor Kozlowski tackles the preeminent development in political philosophy of the twentieth century - and spectre overhanging the twenty-first: Fascism and Totalitarianism. We'll examine Italian Fascism with Mussolini's own "The Doctrine of Fascism" as well as Umberto Eco's 2001 essay "Ur-Fascism"; Nazism with the Extra History video series Nazi Occultism and Folding Ideas' video essay "Triumph of the Will and the Cinematic Language of Propaganda"; and, finally, we'll read an excerpt of Hannah Arendt's compendious The Origins of Totalitarianism. Along the way we'll discuss how to recognize signs and symptoms of Fascism (including those in the Trump administration), its allure and its techniques for staying in power, its reliance on irrationality, mythology, and mysticism, its fundamental flaws as a system of government and its tendency toward self-destructiveness, as well as what we might do to fight it when it arises. Additional readings include: Quotations from Chairman MaoArendt - Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of EvilStanley - How Propagada WorksKoestler - Darkness at NoonOrwell - 1984Zamyatin - WeBulgakov - The Master and MargaritaLiu - The Three-Body ProblemThe Great Dictator (1940)Papers, Please If you're considering dedicating your whole life and well-being to my charismatic leadership, why not start by visiting my website: professorkozlowski.wordpress.com?

Professor Kozlowski invites the wrath of the Internet by proposing to discuss Conservatism. To do that, we'll explore the history of conservative thinking (and American Conservatism in particular) from Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France and Romanticism (including Nietzsche's perspective in On the Genealogy of Morals), to the 20th and 21st centuries. We'll touch on major developments throughout history, including the New Deal, the Cold War, the Civil Rights movement, the Christian Evangelical Right, and Neoconservatism (including Irving Kristol's "The Neoconservative Persuasion), all the way up to the MAGA movement and Project 2025. It's a massive lecture for a massive topic, but how else were we going to introduce the 20th century? Besides the required readings linked above, the 20th century lectures will include many more additional readings. For our Conservatism discussion, they include: Nietzsche - Thus Spake ZarathustraSpencer - The Study of SociologyTagore - NationalismStelzer - The NeoCon ReaderWallace - Consider the LobsterPeterson - 12 Rules for LifeSandifer - Neoreaction: A BasiliskInnuendo Studios - The Alt-Right PlaybookContrapoints - CONSPIRACYRand - Atlas ShruggedHeinlein - The Moon is a Harsh MistressInvasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)BioshockCall of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007)Spec Ops: The Line - good luck finding it! If you are incensed by this lecture and would like to vandalize Professor Kozlowski's other Internet projects, check out his website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠professorkozlowski.wordpress.com

The Communist Manifesto is one of the most influential and divisive works of political philosophy. Yet it almost seems quaint and harmless in a modern world of global Capitalist reach, and more rhetorical than scientific compared to the more systematic and explanatory Capital. Is Marx's theory of capitalist greed and social upheaval still relevant in a post Cold War world? Or is this a harmless historical phenomenon, relevant only in its time? Additional readings include: Bakunin's God and the State, Bernstein's Evolutionary Socialism, Sorel's Reflections on Violence, Chernyshevsky's What is to Be Done?, Dostoevsky's Notes from Underground, and Morris' News from Nowhere. And while I suspect I should be able to find a better mechanical representation of political revolution in video game history, I'm stuck instead with Red Faction: Guerrilla, which is a smarter game then it first seems, but is still pretty dang dumb. If you would rather check out Professor Kozlowski's other online projects than immediately rise up against your oppressors (all you have to lose are your chains!), check out his website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠professorkozlowski.wordpress.com

At long last, Professor Kozlowski tackles that most divisive of all political thinkers: Karl Marx. Today we'll talk about the legacy of Marx (especially in the USA), and take our first steps to understanding Marxist views of capitalism through Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations and excerpts from Marx's own Capital. Additional readings include: Weber's The Protestant Work Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Durkheim's The Division of Labor in Society, Sinclair's The Jungle, Dickens' The Old Curiosity Shop, and the Capitalist Utopian classic, Bellamy's Looking Backward: 2000-1887. And, since you asked, my video game recommendation this week is Offworld Trading Company - a game about peak Capitalism at its absolute scuzziest. If you or somebody you know would like to learn more about pinko scumbag Professor Kozlowski's other online projects, check out his website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠professorkozlowski.wordpress.com

Professor Kozlowski introduces his new course - History of Social Thought - with a lecture walking through the syllabus and describing the responsibilities and expectations of the course.