Professor Kozlowski Lectures
Episodes
Derrida to Literature
15 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski interprets Derrida's "This Strange Institution Called Literature" according to his own idea of Derrida's philoso...
The Romantic Manifesto 2
11 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski concludes his discussion of Ayn Rand's The Romantic Manifesto by examining Rand's confused description of Romanticism, her...
The Romantic Manifesto 1
04 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski embarks on his discussion of Ayn Rand's The Romantic Manifesto with an examination of Ayn Rand's controversial legacy, phi...
The Situation of the Writer in 2023
21 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski returns to Sartre's What is Literature? to address Sartre's discussion of the situation of the writer in 1947, and expand ...
What is Literature? 1
11 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski examines Sartre's phenomenological/aesthetic treatise: What is Literature? Along the way, he'll address issues of artistic commerc...
An Experiment in Criticism
22 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski takes on C. S. Lewis' An Experiment in Criticism to examine the ethical responsibilities of the audience to a work of art or liter...
The Responsibility of the Artist
15 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski wrestles with one of the thorniest issues in the discussion of literature ethics: how do we reckon with bad people who make great ...
Dehumanization and Propaganda
07 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Oh boy. Today Professor Kozlowski is talking about Ortega y Gasset's 1925 essay "The Dehumanization of Art", which observes that contemporary ar...
What is Art? 2
01 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski wrestles with his own potentially-perverted artistic sensibilities by confronting Tolstoy's overall thesis on the function and def...
What is Art? 1
26 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski tackles the first half of Tolstoy's aesthetic masterwork (?) What is Art? to isolate and examine (1) Tolstoy's grievances with art...
Tolstoy Essays on Art
17 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski reads a wide variety of Tolstoy's essays on art, including his "Schoolboys and Art," "Introduction to Semyonov's Peasant Stories,"...
TTW SP23 Syllabus
12 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski introduces his online section of Troy and the Trojan War for Spring 2023, explaining the rough outline of the course, the expectat...
Ethics of Lit: Leaf By Niggle
10 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
For the first proper lecture in Ethics of Literature, Professor Kozlowski discusses Tolkien's often-overlooked short story, "Leaf By Niggle." Th...
Intro to Ethics of Literature
04 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski begins our discussion of the ethics of literature with a simple question: Is Speaking Ethical? The answer may be simple, but...
Replaying Assassins' Creed 4: Black Flag
31 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Though Professor Kozlowski admittedly did not play much further, Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag remains his favorite game in the franchise, even if i...
Let's All Kill Bradbury (Constance 2)
03 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski concludes his series on Ray Bradbury by eating crow and admitting that his understanding of Bradbury's art and objectives may be b...
Let's All Kill Constance 1
28 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski wrestles with the existential horror of realizing that Ray Bradbury, one of his favorite writers, may have turned into a hack and ...
Something Wicked This Way Comes 2
21 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski contends with the wild second half of Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes, interrogating the way that Bradbury depicts the ...
Something Wicked This Way Comes 1
15 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski wildly gestures at the irrational logic of Bradbury's novel of boys, dark carnivals, and nightmare happenings: Something Wicked Th...
Replaying Assassins' Creed 3
08 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Assassin's Creed 3 was nobody's favorite game in the series. After immense hype and promise, the game released to critical and popular indiffere...
The Illustrated Man 2
08 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski continues his fool's errand of discussing many unrelated Bradbury short stories, including the ominous and horrifying "The City", ...
The Illustrated Man 1
02 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski attempts a new feat: talking coherently about nine different Bradbury short stories with different themes, settings, and tones. &n...
Fahrenheit 451 - 2
18 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski turns his attention to the second half of Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 to discuss the value of literature, the dire consequences of B...
Replaying Assassins' Creed: The Ezio Sequels
11 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The legacy of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood and Assassin's Creed: Revelations is that of cash-grab sequels capitalizing on Assassin's Creed 2's succes...
Fahrenheit 451 - 1
11 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski explores the characters and world of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 as it appears in the first half of the book - and discusses at ...
The Martian Chronicles 2
21 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The second half of Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles is messy, uneven, and occasionally changed from edition to edition. In this lecture, Pr...
The Martian Chronicles 1
13 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski discusses the first half of Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles, examining how Bradbury deconstructs the typical adventure-to-an...
Replaying Assassins' Creed II
13 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Assassins' Creed II was widely hailed as a dramatic improvement over the first game, fixing many of its faults and delivering an overall better gamepl...
Why Ray Bradbury?
30 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski introduces his Fall 2022 reading project: working through the books of Ray Bradbury! But why this writer, these books, this ...
Replaying Assassins' Creed
27 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Relationship status: It's Complicated. If you have questions or topic suggestions for Professor Kozlowski, e-mail him at [email protected] To ...
Homer Through the Middle Ages
30 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski examines the reception of Homer through the Middle Ages: in the Byzantine Empire, in the Islamicate World, and in Medieval Europe....
Aeneid 2, 4, 6
29 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski reluctantly addresses the epic poem regarded by the Medievals and Renaissance writers as the greatest ever written - Virgil's Aene...
Rome vs. Homer
28 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski examines the complicated relationship between Rome and Homer, from Rome's origins as a melting pot of cultures defined and informe...
The Trojan Women
28 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Enough of this history nonsense. Professor Kozlowski returns to form with a deep-dive examination of Euripides' The Trojan Women, looking especi...
Classical Greece
27 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski finally reaches the Classical Age of Greece, lightly sketching the role of Homer's epics in the development of Greek culture, incl...
The Achaeans from the Cycladics to Homer
23 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski contextualizes the writings of Homer according to the archaeological and historical evidence of the Greek culture from its earlies...
Troy: From Wilusa to Hisarlik
21 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski lightly examines the archaeological excavations in Hisarlik, considered by the academic community to be the most likely site of An...
Odyssey 12-13, 19
16 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski continues his examination of the Odyssey as Odysseus' crew (and the gods) betray him into destroying his ship, as he finally reach...
Odyssey 9-11
14 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski follows the narrated adventures of Odysseus through the first three books of his four-book narration. Highlights include can...
Odyssey 1-5
14 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski embarks on a grand (if heavily abridged) journey through the Odyssey. Now including exclusive footage of Helen of Troy resto...
Iliad 23-24
14 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski concludes his discussion of the Iliad with some aimless ruminating, a recap of the Patroclus Memorial Olympics, some more shade on...
Iliad 20-22
14 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski follows the genocidal Achilles as he cuts his way through the entire Trojan army, at least one god, and his own personal shortcomi...
Iliad 17-19
12 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski explores one of the most thematically-rich portions of the Iliad, examining the hubris of Hector, the transformation of Achilles' ...
Iliad 15-16
07 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski finally gets back to Achilles and Patroclus as Patroclus marches off to war in Achilles' armor. What could possibly go wrong...
Iliad 10-14
07 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski continues his slog through the battle scenes of the Iliad - with a rapid-fire breakdown of twice the usual number of chapters (so ...
Iliad 7-9
06 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski slogs through the most boring part of the Iliad, and argues that the boring-ness is intentional and deliberate. Still no les...
Iliad 5-6
03 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski follows the heroic exploits of Diomedes as he cuts his way through the Trojan lines (and a few gods to boot) before visiting Troy ...
Iliad 3-4
03 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski continues his deep read of the Iliad by walking through the preparations and duel of Books 3-4, stressing the chaotic nature of co...
Iliad 1-2
02 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski begins his deep read of the Iliad by examining the themes and characters of Books 1 and 2. Highlights include toxic masculin...
Iliad - Translation, Style, Structure
23 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski takes a deep dive into the style and structure of the Iliad - he examines multiple translations to discuss the priorities and pitf...
The Myth of the Trojan War
21 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski tries to contextualize the Iliad of Homer by reading through the Trojan War narrative in the Library of Apollodorus. Along t...
Troy and the Trojan War - Syllabus FA 22
20 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski kicks off a new semester (well in advance) and a new class: Troy and the Trojan War. In this class, he'll look at the Iliad,...
The Abortion Non-Debate
07 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski will NOT be recording his ethics class this summer, alas - but offers this one-off episode about the current state of discourse ab...
Gilgamesh - Analysis
30 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski examines and analyzes each of the major characters and themes of the Epic of Gilgamesh, specifically as it is presented and record...
Gilgamesh - Context and Provenance
28 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski discusses the history of the Gilgamesh story, from fragmentary Sumerian myths to fragmentary Akkadian epic. If you have questions ...
Outlander and the Dearth of Good Chick Lit
23 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski deviates from his usual curriculum to entertain his wife's lecture request: Today we are discussing Diana Gabaldon's Outlander - i...
The Brothers Karamazov - Epilogue
20 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski concludes his series on The Brothers Karamazov and looks forward at the future of his Internet-based endeavors. If you have ...
TBK 12-1 - "A Judicial Error" - The Prosecution
12 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski discusses the first half of the conclusion to The Brothers Karamazov, examining the climactic trial, its significance to the vario...
TBK Book 11-2 - "Brother Ivan Fyodorovich" and the Devil
05 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski examines the many questions surrounding Ivan's interviews with Smerdykov and the Devil, and concludes that it's all just a dream. ...
TBK Book 11-1 - Where is "Brother Ivan Fyodorovich"?
29 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Dostoevsky (and Professor Kozlowski) once again turns his attention to Brother Ivan Fyodorovich Karamazov - but where is he? Three months have t...
TBK Book Ten - "Boys"
22 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski looks at this sudden and seemingly-inexplicable tangent in Dostoevsky's storytelling: a diversion from the main story and characte...
TBK Book Nine - "The Preliminary Investigation"
16 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski looks at the investigation and interrogation of Dmitri Fyodorovich Karamazov through three interpretive lenses: that of the popula...
TBK Book 8-2 - "Mitya": Delirium
08 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski discusses the latter half of Mitya's chapter, including his confrontation with (and generosity toward) the two poles, his su...
TBK Book 8-1 - "Mitya": Decision
02 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski confronts Dostoevsky's Russian Nationalism in the light of Putin's war on Ukraine, as well as the whole of Dostoevsky's legacy - g...
TBK Book Seven - "Alyosha"
23 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski discusses the funeral of Elder Zosima, and what Dostoevsky reveals about the nature of Christian hypocrisy, as well as tracking th...
TBK Book Six - "The Russian Monk"
16 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
"The Grand Inquisitor" may be the most-discussed passage from The Brothers Karamazov, but the Life, Talks, and Homilies of Father Zosima is almost cer...
TBK Book Five - "Pro and Contra"
08 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
At last, it's the moment we've all been waiting for: Professor Kozlowski discusses Rebellion and The Grand Inquisitor - Ivan's long speech to Alyosha ...
TBK Book Four - "Strains"
01 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski turns his attention to the villains and victims of Dostoevsky's characters in The Brothers Karamazov: Fyodor Karamaov at his most ...
TBK Book Three - "The Sensualists"
01 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski discusses Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov as it returns to Dostoevsky's comfort zone: Alyosha bustling about, bumping into oth...
TBK Book Two - "An Inapprorpiate Gathering"
25 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski discusses Dostoevsky's over-ambitious first look at the Family Karamazov as they hide their insecurities with erudition (or stupid...
Mythology SP22 Syllabus
19 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski is sick, and couldn't go to class for his typical first-day-syllabus discussion. So it ended up here instead. New Brot...
TBK Book One - "A Nice Little Family"
11 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski discusses Dostoevsky's shamelessly expository first book of The Brothers Karamazov, including the "muddle-headed" and dissipated f...
The Brothers Karamazov - Introduction
04 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski embarks on a new semester-long project: reading through Dostoevsky's mammoth, messy magnum opus: The Brothers Karamazov. We'...
Navel-Gazing and Other Techniques of the Self
06 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski closes out his Love and Friendship class with some discussion of Foucault, but mostly by thinking out loud about the past, present...
Queer Theory, Identity, Sexuality, and Shame
06 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski well oversteps his expertise and discusses the ideas presented in early texts on Queer Theory, namely Michel Foucault's "Friendshi...
Feminism and Love
04 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski continues his discussion of Love in the 20th Century by examining the four waves of feminism and touching on several important tex...
Christian Apologists
04 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski wanders off the beaten path of philosophical canon to discuss the attitudes on Love and Friendship most important to him personall...
Freud!
29 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski discusses Freud today. What could go wrong? CW: sex/sexuality, incest, rape, heteronormativity, childhood trauma, mental ill...
Reacting to Romanticism: Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, and Kierkegaard
29 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski takes on some of the most divisive and dangerous thinkers in the history of the canon - along with some explanation of 19th-centur...
Goethe's Romanticism
23 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski guides us carefully through Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther, Wertherism, and the tangled, radical philosophy of Romanticism ...
Rousseau vs. Feminism
23 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski pits Rousseau's dubious pedagogical advice against the clear-sighted feminism of Mary Wollstonecroft's A Vindication of the Rights...
Spinoza, Kant, and the Enlightenment
22 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Continuing through history, Professor Kozlowski discusses excerpts of Spinoza's Ethics, briefly recounts the intellectual history leading up to The En...
Montaigne and the Renaissance
22 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski discusses the rapidly-changing world of Modern Europe, from the Renaissance to the Protestant Reformation to the Scientific Revolu...
Dante and Beatrice
18 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski takes a break from philosophy proper to discuss the Love of the poets and artists of the late medieval and early modern era, focus...
Aquinas - Friendship is Charity
18 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski goes for a (relatively) brief walk through the woolly area of Thomist philosophy: examining how Aquinas distinguishes between conc...
Islam and Courtly Love
15 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski commits a hat-trick of irresponsible academic conjecture by (1) wading deep into a contentious discussion that (2) he is woefully ...
Augustine and the Evolution of Christianity
15 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski largely abandons today's reading from Augustine's Confessions in order to embark on a brief history of the early Christian church,...
Christianity - God is Love
08 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It's time to talk about Christianity, and how it radically changed Western Culture's understanding of Love. If you have questions or topic suggestions...
Cicero - De Amicitia
08 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski muses on the subject of how philosophy texts become "important" to the canon, the rise and fall of the Roman Empire - as a subject...
Rome, Stoicism, and (Avoiding) Love
07 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski crosses the Rubicon to discuss the rise of the Roman Empire, its widespread (and politically-motivated?) embrace of stoicism, and ...
Love in Eastern Philosophy
07 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski ventures into Eastern Philosophy to discuss alternative attitudes toward love and friendship, as well as draw comparisons and cont...
Aristotle on Friendship II - Nicomachean Ethics IX: The Friendening
01 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski wanders through the series of questions asked and answered by Aristotle in Nicomachean Ethics IX. Along the way, he'll discu...
Aristotle on Friendship - Nicomachean Ethics VIII
01 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski turns his attention from eros to philia in his discussion of Book VIII of the Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle. In this lectu...
Plato's Symposium 2 - Agathon, Socrates, and Alcibiades: Millenia-old Love Triangle
30 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski completes his encomium of Plato's Symposium by discussing the lives of Socrates and Alcibiades: how their love affair may have end...
Plato's Symposium 1 - Phaedrus through Aristophanes
30 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski begins his encomium of the Symposium by discussing Greek cultural assumptions and how they relate and manifest in the first four s...
Love in the Old Testament
28 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Time to discuss one of the earliest perspectives on love in the history of Western Civilization: the love between God and His people in the Old Testam...
Foucault - The Repressive Hypothesis
28 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Taking on another overly-ambitious project, Professor Kozlowski attempts to discuss Foucault's early steps in his History of Sexuality, discussing his...
What is Love? (Baby Don't Define Me)
27 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski dives into the deep end of the ocean and gets thoroughly drowned in his early attempts to define love. Hopefully not without...
Mythology FA21 Syllabus
27 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski discusses the aspirations and expectations of the Mythology class at MSU by walking through the course syllabus. Every new s...
Love and Friendship Syllabus, Fall 2021
26 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kozlowski introduces Internet listeners and official students alike to his newest course at Ramapo College: The Philosophy of Love and Frien...