FOR THE LAST several years, the research of Associate Professor of Modern Languages Dirk R. Johnson has focused on the interconnections between Nietzsche’s philosophy and Darwin’s scientific theories. The project should shed light on a signifi cant feature of 19th-century intellectual history—namely, the role that controversial biological insights and tropes play within Nietzsche’s philosophy, helping to associate him, both in scholarship and the popular imagination, with virulent forms of Social Darwinism.

Although much has been written recently on Nietzsche’s Darwinism, Johnson’s study instead seeks to tackle this question from a different perspective: by emphasizing Nietzsche’s oftenneglected anti-Darwinism, Johnson argues that Nietzsche’s philosophy must be understood on the basis of his antagonism to, and not congruence with, Darwinism.

In 2005 an article based on this project entitled “Nietzsche’s Partnership with Paul Rée: ‘Höherer Réealismus’ or Philosophical Réealignment?” appeared in Italian in Rivista di filosofia. Johnson’s review of Greg Moore’s Nietzsche, Biology and Metaphor (Cambridge University Press, 2002) will appear in the Journal of Nietzsche Studies next spring.

During the summer, Johnson completed an entry for the Nietzsche Dictionary (Nietzsche Wörterbuch) on Nietzsche’s use of the word Gattung (“species”). During his work for this project, Johnson discovered that Nietzsche approached the term “species” from an increasingly critical perspective. He presented a paper based on his findings at the Mountain Interstate Foreign Language Conference in Roanoke, Virginia, in October.

Johnson came to the College in 2001 and was promoted to his present rank last spring. He holds a B.A. from Bowdoin College, a Magister from the University of Bonn, and a Ph.D. from Indiana University. He will be on sabbatical leave in the spring and hopes to complete his study, provisionally entitled Nietzsche’s Anti- Darwinism.

BEYOND THE Classroom FOR THE Classroom
Hampden-Sydney College Faculty Scholarship 2005-2008
A report by the Office of the Dean of the Faculty