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).
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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 Bullshit," 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
and a double video game recommendation - probably two of the greatest politically-minded games ever made:
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:
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
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
Nozick's Anarchy, State, Utopia
Walzer's "A Defense of Equality"
And additional readings include:
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:
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:
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.
Today we confront the primary moral philosophy presented as a challenge to Kant's Deontology: Utilitarianism. We'll read Chapter 1 of Bentham's "An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation" as well as a sizable portion of Mill's On Liberty - which is remarkably NOT Utilitarian, and famous as one of the primary texts underlying contemporary Libertarianism. Along the way we'll have some very serious discussions about free speech, personal freedom, and Christian insularity - and how the world of rights and personal independence has changed in the past few hundred years.
Additional readings this week include: Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Foucault's Birth of the Clinic, Turgenev's Fathers and Sons, Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, and Hugo's Les Miserables. It's a mixed bag, with some anachronistic choices, but these will provide a good cross-section of perspectives about the virtues and vices of Mill's text. Speaking of mixed bags and individualism run amok, our game recommendations for this week are: John Company (2nd edition) and Darkest Dungeon.
If you're interested in Professor Kozlowski's other online projects, check out his website: professorkozlowski.wordpress.com
Professor Kozlowski tackles the preeminent philosopher of Enlightenment philosophy: Immanuel Kant. In this lecture, we'll discuss the basic principles underlying Deontological Ethics (including an explanation of the Categorical Imperative), before moving on to appreciate the wry dark humor and cutting insights of his political essay "Perpetual Peace."
Our readings include excerpts from the Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysics of Morals (Or "Groundwork...") and the complete essay "Perpetual Peace."
Additional readings this week include a healthy portion of sturm und drang: Goethe's Faust and Schiller's The Robbers, as well as the behemoth of Romantic Political Philosophy: Hegel's The Philosophy of Right. (Proceed with caution - Hegel is not for the faint of heart...) As for today's video game recommendation, we're going with the Gamecube-era JRPG: Tales of Symphonia for its unflinching deontological morality. Take that, Final Fantasy X!
If you're interested in Professor Kozlowski's other online projects, check out his website: professorkozlowski.wordpress.com
Professor Kozlowski finally reaches the American Experiment. Today we discuss the Declaration of Independence, several of the Federalist Papers (and the response by the mysterious "Brutus"), the American Constitution, and the legend of Hiawatha the Unifier*. Along the way we will discuss the current state of the American Experiment and how the decisions of the founders may have overlooked potential abuses or exploits, as well as the concerns and preoccupations of the founders in their own time.
*(I include the link to the Erdoes and Ortiz book where I found the myth; it's not in the public domain, and the downloads I found were pretty dodgy)
Additional Readings include: Common Sense by Thomas Paine, the other writings of Thomas Jefferson (I don't have a specific collection or writing in mind, though...), and "What is the Slave to the 4th of July?" by Frederick Douglass. And today you get a double game recommendation: A Few Acres of Snow (board game - good luck finding it, though...), and Assassin's Creed III.
If you're interested in Professor Kozlowski's other online projects, check out his website: professorkozlowski.wordpress.com
Professor Kozlowski tackles the French Enlightenment with excerpts from Montesquieu and Rousseau. The first is an orderly, encyclopedic thinker trying to categorize and classify every element of political philosophy; the second may well be a proto-Anarchist masquerading as an Enlightenment mainstay. Really, what were we expecting from the French?
Readings today come from Montesquieu's The Spirit of the Laws, as well as The Social Contract and "Discourse on the Origin of Inequality" by Rousseau.
Additional readings include Voltaire's Candide and Moliere's Don Juan, as well as a casual suggestion that you should read some David Hume, (here's an especially representative collection). And of course, today's video game recommendation is Europa Universalis.
In a fit of spite, Professor Kozlowski condenses his discussion of landmark British political philosophers Hobbes and Locke - forerunners of the American constitution - into a single joint lecture. We'll compare and contrast the two states of nature proposed by these thinkers, examine their divergent attitudes toward the authority of government, and root their philosophical conclusions in the tumultuous history of the English Civil War.
Hooray for English philosophers - no translations necessary for these texts! Here are the Project Gutenberg texts of Hobbes' Leviathan, and Locke's Second Treatise Concerning Government.
Additional readings for this lecture include some more 17th-century English classics: Bacon's scientific Utopia, New Atlantis; Milton's epic masterpiece, Paradise Lost; and Swift's satirical classic, Gulliver's Travels. Finally, for my video gamers, I recommend the colonization-based management sim/city builder Anno 1404 (it may not be the most period-appropriate game in the series, but I think it is the best mechanical representation of this era without the industrialization mechanics of Anno 1800).
If you're interested in Professor Kozlowski's other online projects, check out his website: professorkozlowski.wordpress.com
Professor Kozlowski ventures into the modern era of political philosophy with a look at two titans of early-Renaissance era political philosophy: Ibn Khaldun, the great Islamic historian and proto-sociologist/economist writing in the post-Mongol Invasion Abassid Caliphate, and Machiavelli, the political philosopher so famous that "Machiavellian" has become synonymous with pragmatic-to-the-point-of-being-a-jerk. We will look at their methods, their observations, their conclusions, and - importantly - their legacy.
Readings today originate in the Muqaddimah of Ibn Khaldun and Machiavelli's The Prince (as found in the Cohen textbook).
Now that we've entered the modern era, additional readings will be plentiful, especially now that people are writing Utopian literature! For today, there is Machiavelli's other landmark work of political philosophy: Discourses on Livy, the tale of "The City of Brass" from the 1001 Arabian Nights, Sir Thomas' More's Utopia, and Tommaso Campanella's City of the Sun. Finally, my video game recommendation is Homeworld: Deserts of Kharnak, as a rough science-fiction approximation of the nomadic Bedouin virtues and problems laid out by Ibn Khaldun.
If you're interested in Professor Kozlowski's other online projects, check out his website: professorkozlowski.wordpress.com
Today Professor Kozlowski takes on the political philosophy of the Medieval (and early modern) Christian world, as a cross-section of ideas and interpretations made by Christian political philosophers. Our readings for today hail from:
City of God by Augustine of Hippo
Summa Theologica by Thomas Aquinas
"Temporal Authority: To What Extent it Should be Obeyed" by Martin Luther (requires a free Internet Archives account to borrow)
Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin (Chapter XIX: par. 15 and Chapter XX: On Civil Government, par. I, II, III, and XXIX)
Along the way we'll encounter a wide variety of different interpretations of Biblical theology, and an even wider variety of applications for Christians trying to figure out how to live their lives in secular society. And we might even find some surprise cameos by ideas thought to originate in later, less Christian times.
Additional readings this week mostly surround historical events, but I recommend Dante's De Monarchia and, for my gamers, Crusader Kings II (I haven't played III yet, but it's probably also good...)
If you're interested in Professor Kozlowski's other online projects, check out his website: professorkozlowski.wordpress.com
Professor Kozlowski embarks on yet another discussion of politics and the Bible. Here we will look at the basic outline of the gospel, as well as key passages from Genesis, Deuteronomy, Judges, 1 Samuel, Matthew, Acts, and 1 Timothy that illuminate the Biblical perspective on politics and government - if there is one.
https://www.biblegateway.com contains a wide variety of Biblical translations, including all the passages discussed in this lecture. I recommend the ESV for beginners.
No official additional readings for today, though I do recommend and make reference reference to other Biblical, apocryphal, and related texts, like: 1 & 2 Kings, Acts, 1 & 2 Maccabees, and Josephus' Antiquities of the Jews and Wars of the Jews. For my gamers, I'll recommend Afterlife - but mostly as a joke.
If you're interested in Professor Kozlowski's other online projects, check out his website: professorkozlowski.wordpress.com
