Professor Kozlowski Lectures

Having decided to spend the summer researching (rather than trying to produce polished lectures), Professor Kozlowski begins to report his research in this first informal "notes" lecture on V. F. Cordova's How It Is. Cordova was the first Native American scholar to receive a Ph.D in philosophy, and this book seems as good an entry point as any into the complicated world of Native American philosophy and scholarship. In this entry, Professor Kozlowski outlines his expectations for the class (as well as for these "notes" going forward), discusses the obstacles he's found as he tries to enter the world of Native American scholarship, and confronts some key ideas and problems in Cordova's book. To see what else Professor Kozlowski is up to, visit his webpage: https://professorkozlowski.wordpress.com/ or contact him directly at profbkozlowski2@gmail.com. And please consider contributing to Professor Kozlowski's Patreon at: https://www.patreon.com/ProfessorKozlowski - where you'll also be able to vote for and suggest new topics for future lectures.

Professor Kozlowski concludes (perhaps prematurely) his discussion of the Ethics of Literature by delivering a broad-strokes summary of Wayne C. Booth's The Company We Keep: An Ethics of Fiction, along with some musing on the series' diverse and complicated conclusions, and thoughts about future projects. To see what else Professor Kozlowski is up to, visit his webpage: https://professorkozlowski.wordpress.com/ And please consider contributing to Professor Kozlowski's Patreon at: https://www.patreon.com/ProfessorKozlowski - where you'll also be able to vote for and suggest new topics for future lectures.

There are few matters in art criticism (and life) closer to Professor Kozlowski's heart than the mental/spiritual war against capital-N Nihilism - retaining hope in the face of despair, remaining positive in the face of relentless negativity, and perpetually adjusting one's perspective to acknowledge the value of the good things in the world, even when plans go awry and things fall apart. That conviction lies hand-in-hand with his reading of John Gardner's On Moral Fiction, which casts artists in the role of warriors against the dark, explicitly comparing art to Thor's Hammer, beating back the forces of evil. In this lecture, Professor Kozlowski explores Gardner's stark, martial metaphors, assesses the fine distinctions between moral and immoral art, and applies these findings to the art world today. To see what else Professor Kozlowski is up to, visit his webpage: https://professorkozlowski.wordpress.com/ And please consider contributing to Professor Kozlowski's Patreon at: https://www.patreon.com/ProfessorKozlowski - where you'll also be able to vote for and suggest new topics for future lectures.

Professor Kozlowski discusses the first half of John Gardner's On Moral Fiction: "Premises on Art and Morality", where we'll identify some of the current philosophical ideas undermining the possibility of moral fiction in the 1970's (and today), examine those issues in many writers contemporary to Gardner, and think about the ways that modern media is equally evasive of or troubled by these problems. To see what else Professor Kozlowski is up to, visit his webpage: https://professorkozlowski.wordpress.com/ And please consider contributing to Professor Kozlowski's Patreon at: https://www.patreon.com/ProfessorKozlowski - where you'll also be able to vote for and suggest new topics for future lectures.

This podcast explores Professor Kozlowski's interpretation of Derrida's 'This Strange Institution Called Literature' and examines the validity of different acts of interpretation. It discusses Derrida's impact on literature, the misinterpretation of deconstruction, and the ethical implications of meaning in literature. The podcast also explores the Bible's views on slavery, women, and homosexuality, delves into the boundaries of interpretation, and questions the concept of saying everything in literature. Lastly, it tackles Derrida's perspective on literature, the ethical dimension of storytelling, and a discussion about John Gardener's 'On Moral Fiction'.

Professor Kozlowski concludes his discussion of Ayn Rand's The Romantic Manifesto by examining Rand's confused description of Romanticism, her curious application of Romantic ideals to popular, commercial art, and her examination of the pedagogical function of art, especially for children. Can we reconcile the valuable insights of Rand artistic philosophy with her hostile, narrow view of what constitutes great art? To see what else Professor Kozlowski is up to, visit his webpage: https://professorkozlowski.wordpress.com/ And please consider contributing to Professor Kozlowski's Patreon at: https://www.patreon.com/ProfessorKozlowski - where you'll also be able to vote for and suggest new topics for future lectures.

Professor Kozlowski embarks on his discussion of Ayn Rand's The Romantic Manifesto with an examination of Ayn Rand's controversial legacy, philosophy, and career, before moving on to discuss her philosophy of art and literature, and making a case for her perspicacious take on art's power and effect. To see what else Professor Kozlowski is up to, visit his webpage: https://professorkozlowski.wordpress.com/ And please consider contributing to Professor Kozlowski's Patreon at: https://www.patreon.com/ProfessorKozlowski - where you'll also be able to vote for and suggest new topics for future lectures.

Professor Kozlowski returns to Sartre's What is Literature? to address Sartre's discussion of the situation of the writer in 1947, and expand on his observations there to discuss how that situation - and how literature itself - has changed in 2023. To see what else Professor Kozlowski is up to, visit his webpage: https://professorkozlowski.wordpress.com/ And please consider contributing to Professor Kozlowski's Patreon at: https://www.patreon.com/ProfessorKozlowski - where you'll also be able to vote for and suggest new topics for future lectures.

Professor Kozlowski examines Sartre's phenomenological/aesthetic treatise: What is Literature? Along the way, he'll address issues of artistic commercialization, the role of art and literature in class conflict, and how one's historical and cultural moment changes the way a writer interacts with the world. To see what else Professor Kozlowski is up to, visit his webpage: https://professorkozlowski.wordpress.com/ And please consider contributing to Professor Kozlowski's Patreon at:    https://www.patreon.com/ProfessorKozlowski - where you'll also be    able to vote for and suggest new topics for future lectures.

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 literature, and to discuss how the world of criticism has changed in fifty years.  Among other topics, he'll discuss: bad-faith criticism, criticism from marginalized perspectives, intrinsic and extrinsic criticism, and Lewis' own problems with elitist gatekeeping and inflammatory criticism for self-aggrandizement. Suggested supplementary readings include: Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island C. S. Lewis' The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe Conrad's Heart of Darkness and Achebe's "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness" To see what else Professor Kozlowski is up to, visit his webpage: https://professorkozlowski.wordpress.com/ And please consider contributing to Professor Kozlowski's Patreon at:   https://www.patreon.com/ProfessorKozlowski - where you'll also be   able to vote for and suggest new topics for future lectures.