Donovan Miyasaki, Ph.D.
Donovan Miyasaki is Professor of Philosophy at Wright State University. He received his B.A. from the Colorado College (1997) and his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto (2004). His research and teaching interests include Post-Kantian European Philosophy, Political Philosophy, Moral Philosophy, and Aesthetics. His articles have appeared in Journal of Moral Philosophy, Journal of Medical Ethics, Journal of Nietzsche Studies, and History of Philosophy Quarterly. His two-volume study, Nietzsche's Immoralism: Politics as First Philosophy and Politics After Morality: Toward a Nietzschean Left (Palgrave Macmillan, October 2022), argues that Nietzsche's aristocratic politics is inconsistent with his core philosophical committments to determinism and immoralism. It critically reconstructs Nietzsche's theories of justice and rights as the potential ground for a non-liberal, democratic, and socialist politics.
Curriculum Vitae
CV 6-2023.pdf 151.97 KB Education History
Ph.D., 2004, University of Toronto. B.A., 1997, The Colorado College.
Teaching
Social and Political Philosophy: Modern Political Philosophy, Contemporary Political Thought, The Marxist Tradition and Critical Theory
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). (Reviews: Springer Press Website, Marx & Philosophy Review of Books)
Politics After Morality: Toward a Nietzschean Left (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022).
ARTICLES
Nietzsche and the Existential Tradition
“A Nietzschean Critique of Liberal Eugenics” Journal of Medical Ethics (2021): 1–8.
"Feeling, not Freedom: Nietzsche Against Agency." In 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.
“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.
Marx, Freud, and Critical Theory
"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
Articles and Blogposts
"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
“Nietzsche’s Immoralism and Politics After Morality.” Interview, Political Theory Review podcast: conversations with scholars on recent books in political theory, August 16, 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.
"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.
“Literary lessons: Wright State philosophy and classics faculty say literature that reflects the impact of epidemics offers insights." Wright State Newsroom, July 8, 2020.
Discussion Panels and Public Talks
Discussion panel with novelist Alexander Starrett, author of We Germans, College of Liberal Arts, Wright State University, November 14, 2022.
"Honoring Contributions, Recognizing Complexities: A panel discussion to provide a context for recognizing and honoring artists’ achievements while grappling with the complexities of their personal actions.” Discussion panel on poet Paul Lawrence Dunbar, Wright State University Dunbar Library, January 27, 2022.
"Nietzsche's Case Against Political Moralism" (video). College of Liberal Arts Research Conference, Wright State University, February 13, 2017.
