Donovan Miyasaki, Ph.D.
Donovan Miyasaki is Professor of Philosophy at Wright State University. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto in 2004. He works on moral psychology and political philosophy in post-Kantian European philosophy. His current research explores Nietzschean undercurrents in the critical Marxism of Beauvoir, Fanon, and Huey P. Newton. His two-volume study, Nietzsche's Immoralism: Politics as First Philosophy and Politics After Morality: Toward a Nietzschean Left (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022), argues that Nietzsche's aristocratic politics is inconsistent with his core philosophical commitments to determinism and immoralism, critically reconstructing Nietzsche's theories of justice and rights as the potential ground for a non-liberal, democratic, and socialist politics.
Curriculum Vitae
Miyasak CV online 10-24.pdf 175.73 KB Education History
Ph.D., 2004, University of Toronto. B.A., 1997, The Colorado College.
Teaching
Ethical and Political Philosophy: Modern Political Philosophy, Ethics and Values, Contemporary Political Thought, The Marxist Tradition and Critical Theory, Environmental Philosophy
Post-Kantian European Philosophy: Existentialism, 19th Century Continental: Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Marx, Continental Philosophy, 20th Century French Philosophy
Philosophy of Art: Aesthetics, Philosophy of Literature and Film, German Literature and Philosophy
History of Philosophy, Non-Western, and Africana Philosophy: Big Questions: Philosophy, Early Modern Philosophy, 19th Century Philosophy, Black Existentialism and Feminism in Literature and Philosophy (LA 1020 Democracy, Diversity, and Liberal Arts), World Philosophy, Continental and Asian Philosophy
Graduate Courses, Master of Humanities: The Philosophy and Literature of Crime, The Ethics of Retribution: Torture, Terrorism, Punishment
Publications
BOOKS
Nietzsche's Immoralism: Politics as First Philosophy (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022).
Politics After Morality: Toward a Nietzschean Left (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022).
Reviewed in: Review of Politics 86, no. 3 (2024): 403-435; Journal of Nietzsche Studies 55, no. 1 (March 2024): 97-104; Ethics 134, no. 2 (January 2024): 309-15; Marx & Philosophy Review of Books, March 23, 2023; The Agonist: A Nietzsche Circle Journal 17, no. 2 (2023): 73-77; Springer Website.
ARTICLES
Nietzsche
“If You’re a Master, How Come You’re So Slavish? How Nietzsche’s Genealogy Can Help Distinguish Right and Left Populism.” Invited chapter, Nietzsche and Democracy (forthcoming, Edinburgh University Press).
“Nietzsche and Fanon on the Political Breeding of Race and Class as Caste.” Estudos Nietzsche (forthcoming, December 2024).
“A Nietzschean Critique of Liberal Eugenics.” Journal of Medical Ethics 50, no. 1 (2024): 62-69.
"Feeling, not Freedom: Nietzsche Against Agency." Journal of Nietzsche Studies 47, no. 2 (2016): 256-74.
"The Equivocal Use of Power in Nietzsche's Failed Anti-Egalitarianism." Journal of Moral Philosophy 12, no. 1 (2015): 1-32.
"A Nietzschean Case for Illiberal Egalitarianism." In Nietzsche as Political Philosopher, edited by Barry Stocker and Manuel Knoll, 155-70. Berlin: Walter De Gruyter, 2014.
"Nietzsche's Will to Power as Naturalist Critical Ontology." History of Philosophy Quarterly 30, no. 3 (2013): 251-69.
"Nietzsche’s Naturalist Morality of Breeding: A Critique of Eugenics as Taming." In Nietzsche and the Becoming of Life, edited by Vanessa Lemm, 194-213. New York: Fordham University Press, 2014.
"Nietzsche contra Freud on Bad Conscience." Nietzsche-Studien 39 (2010): 434-54.
"Nietzsche's Hermeneutics of Seduction." In Nietzsche y la hermenéutica, edited by F. Arenas-Dolz, Luca Giancristofaro, Paolo Stellino. Valencia: Nau Llibres, 2007.
The Existential Tradition, Marx, Freud, and Critical Theory
Marxism Against Utilitarianism in Beauvoir's Ethics of Ambiguity. Work in progress, 2024.
“Political Violence as Bad Faith in Beauvoir’s The Blood of Others” (Original version published in French as La violence politique comme mauvaise foi dans Le Sang des autres). In (Re)découvrir l’oeuvre de Simone de Beauvoir, edited by Julia Kristeva. Paris: Le bord de l’eau, 2008.
“A Ground for Ethics in Heidegger’s Being and Time.” Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology 38, no. 3 (2007): 261-79.
"The Confusion of Marxian and Freudian Fetishism in Adorno and Benjamin." Philosophy Today 46, no. 4 (2002): 429-43.
“The Evasion of Gender in Freudian Fetishism.” Psychoanalysis, Culture, and Society (formerly Journal for the Psychoanalysis of Culture & Society) 8, no. 2 (2003): 289-298.
Aesthetics and Philosophy of Art
“Art as Self-Origination in Winckelmann and Hegel.” Graduate Faculty Philosophy Journal 27, no. 1 (2006): 129-50.
"Morality and Art: Wayne Booth and the Case of Huck Finn.” Philosophy and Literature 31, no. 1 (2007): 125-32.
Public Philosophy
Online Articles and Contributions
“The Five Best Japanese Novels that Illuminate Nietzsche’s Philosophy (or Distort it in Illuminating Ways!). Book Reviews for Shepherd.com: Explore, Discover, Read, January 15, 2024.
"Nietzsche and the Myth of Free Will: What Your Belief About Free Will Says About You." Public philosophy article, IAI News, Institute for Art and Ideas, July 7, 2023.
"Nietzsche's Unwitting Case for Equality." Public philosophy article, IAI News, Institute for Art and Ideas, June 5, 2023.
"A Threat to Academia? 24 Philosophy Professors React to ChatGPT's Arrival." Social Epistemology Online Review and Collective, March 29, 2023.
“Could there be a Nietzschean Left?" Public philosophy post for World Philosophy Day, Palgrave Macmillan website, 2022.
Interviews and Public Talks
“Nietzsche’s Immoralism and Politics After Morality.” Interview, Political Theory Review podcast: conversations with scholars on recent books in political theory, August 16, 2023.
"Ask a Left Nietzschean: Is 'Amor Fati' a Reactionary or Revolutionary Concept?" Interview, Acid Horizon theory podcast: metaphysics, ethics, politics, critical theory, phenomenology, and beyond, July 27, 2023.
"Nietzsche and Freud." Interview, Pysche Podcast: a psychotherapist explores topics relating to psychotherapy, philosophy, culture, and religion, November 3, 2023.
"The Will to Power." Interview, Pysche Podcast, August 18, 2023.
“Literary lessons: Wright State philosophy and classics faculty say literature that reflects the impact of epidemics offers insights." Wright State Newsroom, July 8, 2020.
"Nietzsche's Case Against Political Moralism" (video). College of Liberal Arts Research Conference, Wright State University, February 13, 2017.
