Professor Kozlowski Lectures

We venture down the rabbit hole of modern art criticism with a shallow dive into the history, inspirations, and major figures of the Surrealist movement - and I subject you to some naked fanboying over some of my favorite artwork. Related readings include Breton's Surrealist Manifesto , Nadia Choucha's Surrealism and the Occult , Nerdwriter's video on Un Chien Andalou , and some good o...

Today we discuss some of the most dangerous purveyors and practitioners of occult philosophy - Hitler's Nazis. Using the Extra History series on Nazi Occultism , Hitler's Monsters by Eric Kurlander (and its proof-of-concept essay ), and several other perspectives by Umberto Eco , Dan Olson , and Lindsay Ellis , we'll discuss how the Nazi party grew out of pervasive unscientific and bor...

Today we discuss the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the secret magical society that included such luminaries as W. B. Yeats, Dion Fortune, and Aleister Crowley, who went on to shape the twentieth century's perspective of magic, despite the organization imploding spectacularly after barely two decades of operation. Among our sources today are the Extra History video on Crowley and the Golde...

Today we discuss the influence of William Blake on the 20th Century. By tracing the development of some of Blake's artistic choices, ideas, and themes through the 19th century and into the 20th, we will hopefully see how many of the preoccupations of William Blake, many of which were revolutionary or unusual in his work, would develop into commonplaces of our own time and culture.

Today we tackle one of the most controversial figures in the history of philosophy, Friedrich Nietzsche. By examining his ideas in the prologue to Thus Spake Zarathustra , "The Four Great Errors" in Twilight of the Idols , and his thoughts on "Peoples and Countries" in Beyond Good and Evil , we hope to lay bare many of the preoccupations and assumptions of the late Romantic era...

CW: Poetic imagery of blood and gore, ravishing, and apocalyptic discussion Today we discuss the works of William Blake that don't usually make it into anthologies and undergraduate curricula - namely " America: A Prophecy ," " The [First] Book of Urizen ," and " Laocoon " (as well as one EXTREMELY popular poem from the deleted preface to "Milton: A Poem&quot...

Today we kick off our discussion of William Blake with a little history catch-up, some discussion of his biography, and a [brief] analysis of the "Songs of Innocence and Experience," and the "Marriage of Heaven and Hell." We'll discuss Blake's religious perspective, his creative interpretation of Milton, and the ideas that will go on to influence Romanticism, magicians,...

Today we finish our discussion of Milton's Paradise Lost with a close examination of Books 9-10. Along the way we'll look at Satan's last chance to make peace with God, his rhetorical strategies to convince Eve to fall, and Milton's relentlessly debilitating portrayal of Eve herself. It's rough, folks. We won't go on to examine Books 11-12, where Milton summarizes the rest...

Today we wrestle with the whole of Raphael's digressions from the central plot of Paradise Lost - the war of the angels in heaven, Milton's recapitulation of Genesis 1 and 2, and some interesting side questions about the Renaissance controversies surrounding the nature of the cosmos, angelic diet and sexuality, and a big glaring theological muddle surrounding human sexuality.

Now that our discussion is officially behind our reading, let's take the opportunity to run through some of the main ideas in Books 3-5 of Paradise Lost , including Milton's (perhaps inconsistent) emphasis on human (and angelic) freedom, Satan's doubts, and the characterization of Eve, God, and Adam.

Today we set out many of the topics we'll need to know in our ongoing study of British Magick - including the varieties of Magical practices common among Renaissance thinkers, some of the ideas of especially prominent Renaissance magicians, and the 17th-century British history surrounding John Milton and the writing of Paradise Lost.

Today we discuss the opening chapters of Milton's Paradise Lost , to ask ourselves: why do we find Satan so compelling in this poem? We'll discuss the reasons why Satan seems persuasive, as well as Milton's hints that Satan is not trustworthy - and why they don't seem to be sufficient.

Today we get as close as we're going to get to reading actual magical grimoires and practical magic instruction - we're looking at three famous texts with differing relationships to the Judeo-Christian Canon and theology. Namely, 1. The Book of Tobit , an Intertestimental book included in some Biblical traditions and not in others, about driving off a demon with some fish parts. 2. The Apo...

Today we discuss how the New Testament came to be: first, by looking at the historical evidences surrounding Jesus of Nazareth, then by examining the complicated and confusing world of writers and writings that emerged in the first centuries of Christianity's growth, then finally by looking at Constantine and Eusebius' efforts to codify Christian teaching, theology, and canon.

Today we talk about the Old Testament's complicated relationship to magic. We'll discuss passages that seem to acknowledge the existence of magical or spiritual forces, familiar texts that are fertile ground for magical interpretations, and strange and esoteric prophecies that become the template for later would-be prophets and magicians.

Today we discuss the text, context, and legacy of Virgil's Aeneid . We'll talk about its role as the preeminent poem of Western literature, its value as propaganda to Augustus Caesar, and the myths and legends that shaped it. We'll also examine the changing face of religion and mythology in the Roman empire, as Christianity and Zoroastrianism supplant the pagan practices that predated...

Today we discuss Hesiod's Theogony and The Homeric Hymn to Demeter , not necessarily for the stories, but to understand how the Greeks conflate their understanding of magic, myth, religion, and history.

Today we take our first look at the study of nonsense with a discussion of logical fallacies - some familiar and well-worn, and some that I dare to invent and name like I'm a real bigshot scholar. We'll also talk about my expectations for good writing - which makes sense in a class about writing. Readings for today include "On Bullshit" by Harry Frankfurt and the Informal Fallaci...

Professor Kozlowski introduces his students to the ins and outs of his Studies in Arts and Humanities class for Fall of 2026.

At long last, we begin our study of British Magick with an introductory lecture about what you can expect from the series, our goals and parameters for the study, and how we will structure the lectures. So it begins. If you wish to be initiated into the greater mysteries of magickal thinking - or just want to support the show - please visit our Patreon ! For more forays into the secret wisdom of a...

Today we discuss Jason Stanley's How Propaganda Works - a book I've been reading on-and-off since the History of Social Thought class, but which seems more important and relevant every day. ⁠Please support my work through Patreon⁠ Check out our sister channel: Professor Kozlowski Lecture Notes ⁠And check out my other projects on my website

Shamelessly promoting our new paid sister channel, Professor Kozlowski Lecture Notes , where you can find our discussions of V for Vendetta, Watchmen, Sandman , and all the rest of our forthcoming research into "A Brief History of British Magick" and beyond. You can also listen along by joining the Patreon - paid patrons get access to all Notes recordings without paying for each lecture...

Today Professor Kozlowski does some long-overdue housekeeping. We'll talk about our ambitions for the future, specifically our project on The History of British Magick for the summer of 2026, and how we might get paid doing it - as well as the usual pleas for Patreon subscriptions and other contributions. (Like, Share, Subscribe!) Please support my work through Patreon And check out my other p...

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...

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?