BOOKS
Nietzsche's Immoralism
Politics as First Philosophy
(part I in a two-volume series)
“Donovan Miyasaki’s new book, the first of two volumes of masterful Nietzsche scholarship, has come at the perfect time for those interested in Nietzsche’s relation to political thought ... Miyasaki consistently offers close and careful readings of Nietzsche’s work to back up his arguments in a highly convincing manner. Having read Miyasaki’s book, it is difficult to imagine reading Nietzsche any other way.”
--Marx & Philosophy Reviews of Books, March 23, 2023
"Miyasaki’s two volumes represent a novel and important incursion into this highly contested field.... While there is much that is controversial in Miyasaki’s interpretation of Nietzsche, it is developed through close reading of key texts and rigorous engagement with a range of contemporary Nietzsche scholarship.... These two volumes make an important contribution to ongoing efforts to understand Nietzsche’s political philosophy and to develop a version that is useful to socialism."
--Ethics 134, no. 2 (January 2024): 309-15
“This is a thoughtful, provocative, important study that breaks new ground in efforts to bridge Nietzsche’s philosophy with democratic life and politics. Miyasaki argues that Nietzsche harbors a coherent political philosophy that we should draw from. Moreover, he maintains that proposing an agonistic alternative to egalitarianism conceals significant ways in which conflict and equality are not antithetical to each other. This is a significant contribution to Nietzsche studies that should prompt productive discussion. Highly recommended.”
--Lawrence J. Hatab, Old Dominion, Springer Website
Politics as First Philosophy
(part I in a two-volume series)
“Donovan Miyasaki’s new book, the first of two volumes of masterful Nietzsche scholarship, has come at the perfect time for those interested in Nietzsche’s relation to political thought ... Miyasaki consistently offers close and careful readings of Nietzsche’s work to back up his arguments in a highly convincing manner. Having read Miyasaki’s book, it is difficult to imagine reading Nietzsche any other way.”
--Marx & Philosophy Reviews of Books, March 23, 2023
"Miyasaki’s two volumes represent a novel and important incursion into this highly contested field.... While there is much that is controversial in Miyasaki’s interpretation of Nietzsche, it is developed through close reading of key texts and rigorous engagement with a range of contemporary Nietzsche scholarship.... These two volumes make an important contribution to ongoing efforts to understand Nietzsche’s political philosophy and to develop a version that is useful to socialism."
--Ethics 134, no. 2 (January 2024): 309-15
“This is a thoughtful, provocative, important study that breaks new ground in efforts to bridge Nietzsche’s philosophy with democratic life and politics. Miyasaki argues that Nietzsche harbors a coherent political philosophy that we should draw from. Moreover, he maintains that proposing an agonistic alternative to egalitarianism conceals significant ways in which conflict and equality are not antithetical to each other. This is a significant contribution to Nietzsche studies that should prompt productive discussion. Highly recommended.”
--Lawrence J. Hatab, Old Dominion, Springer Website
Politics After Morality
Toward a Nietzschean Left
(part II in a two-volume series)
“Donovan Miyasaki has delivered a bold new treatment of Nietzsche’s contribution to political philosophy. Taking quite seriously the strongly fatalistic strains of Nietzsche’s late writings, Miyasaki forwards an original interpretation of Nietzsche’s ‘immoralism’ as an exercise in first philosophy. In this, the first of two impressive volumes, Miyasaki carefully builds the case for receiving Nietzsche not as a moral philosopher in any traditional or conventional sense, but as a proponent of historical materialism. Clearly written, expertly articulated, and thoroughly researched, Nietzsche’s Immoralism will be of great interest to students and scholars alike.”
--Daniel Conway, Texas A&M, Springer Website
"Nietzsche’s politics continue to fascinate. After Kaufmann’s successful efforts to wrangle him free from his appropriation by the Nazis.... After many book-length approaches by Strong, Conway, Ansell-Pearson, Clark, and others, Donovan Miyasaki has taken on the challenge again. The outcome is impressive."
--The Agonist: A Nietzsche Circle Journal 17, no. 2 (2023): 73-77
"The most radical political vision of a left Nietzschean form of Nietzschean socialism."
-- Journal of Nietzsche Studies 55, no. 1 (2024): 97-104
"By inviting us to think about pluralism, manifold souls, love, and fate, the books highlight key matters for further consideration in Nietzsche’s political thought."
-- Review of Politics 86, no. 3 (2024): 403-435
Toward a Nietzschean Left
(part II in a two-volume series)
“Donovan Miyasaki has delivered a bold new treatment of Nietzsche’s contribution to political philosophy. Taking quite seriously the strongly fatalistic strains of Nietzsche’s late writings, Miyasaki forwards an original interpretation of Nietzsche’s ‘immoralism’ as an exercise in first philosophy. In this, the first of two impressive volumes, Miyasaki carefully builds the case for receiving Nietzsche not as a moral philosopher in any traditional or conventional sense, but as a proponent of historical materialism. Clearly written, expertly articulated, and thoroughly researched, Nietzsche’s Immoralism will be of great interest to students and scholars alike.”
--Daniel Conway, Texas A&M, Springer Website
"Nietzsche’s politics continue to fascinate. After Kaufmann’s successful efforts to wrangle him free from his appropriation by the Nazis.... After many book-length approaches by Strong, Conway, Ansell-Pearson, Clark, and others, Donovan Miyasaki has taken on the challenge again. The outcome is impressive."
--The Agonist: A Nietzsche Circle Journal 17, no. 2 (2023): 73-77
"The most radical political vision of a left Nietzschean form of Nietzschean socialism."
-- Journal of Nietzsche Studies 55, no. 1 (2024): 97-104
"By inviting us to think about pluralism, manifold souls, love, and fate, the books highlight key matters for further consideration in Nietzsche’s political thought."
-- Review of Politics 86, no. 3 (2024): 403-435
PAPERS
Critical Marxism
"Nietzsche and Fanon on the Political Breeding of Race and Class as Caste." Estudos Nietzsche 15, no. 2 (2024), special issue: Nietzsche on Race and Racism.
"Beauvoir’s Historical-Materialist Critique of Consequentialism in The Ethics of Ambiguity." Simone de Beauvoir Studies 36, no. 1 (2025).
“Political Violence as Bad Faith in Beauvoir’s The Blood of Others” / 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.
"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.
Nietzsche and Continental Philosophy
"A Nietzschean Critique of Liberal Eugenics." Journal of Medical Ethics 50, no. 1 (2024): 62-69.
"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.
Reply article: Günter Gödde, “Zur Konzeptualisierung des Gewissens. Eine Erwiderung auf Donovan Miyasakis Beitrag ,Nietzsche contra Freud on Bad Conscience’.” Nietzsche-Studien 40 (2011): 273-85.
"Nietzsche’s Hermeneutics of Seduction.” In Nietzsche y la hermenéutica, edited by F. Arenas-Dolz, Luca Giancristofaro, Paolo Stellino. Valencia: Nau Llibres, 2007.
“A Ground for Ethics in Heidegger’s Being and Time.” Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology 38, no. 3 (2007): 261-79.
Aesthetics
“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.
"Nietzsche and Fanon on the Political Breeding of Race and Class as Caste." Estudos Nietzsche 15, no. 2 (2024), special issue: Nietzsche on Race and Racism.
"Beauvoir’s Historical-Materialist Critique of Consequentialism in The Ethics of Ambiguity." Simone de Beauvoir Studies 36, no. 1 (2025).
“Political Violence as Bad Faith in Beauvoir’s The Blood of Others” / 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.
"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.
Nietzsche and Continental Philosophy
"A Nietzschean Critique of Liberal Eugenics." Journal of Medical Ethics 50, no. 1 (2024): 62-69.
"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.
Reply article: Günter Gödde, “Zur Konzeptualisierung des Gewissens. Eine Erwiderung auf Donovan Miyasakis Beitrag ,Nietzsche contra Freud on Bad Conscience’.” Nietzsche-Studien 40 (2011): 273-85.
"Nietzsche’s Hermeneutics of Seduction.” In Nietzsche y la hermenéutica, edited by F. Arenas-Dolz, Luca Giancristofaro, Paolo Stellino. Valencia: Nau Llibres, 2007.
“A Ground for Ethics in Heidegger’s Being and Time.” Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology 38, no. 3 (2007): 261-79.
Aesthetics
“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.