Fig. 1: End of Semester report from Staatsarchiv Basel-Stadt.
Archival Research
My research focuses on new possibilities of utilizing archival research. My work uses both tried and true methods of philology and historical archival research as well as new computational methods.
Philosophers often frame their arguments in exclusively abstract terms without recourse to physical, historical, or empirical evidence. My approach makes use of archival evidence as the starting point of argumentation.
For example, within Nietzsche scholarship there has been a 70 year debate about whether Nietzsche first taught his course on the "Pre-Platonic Philosophers" in 1869 or 1872. Previously, scholars were looking in various archives where Nietzsche's work is stored. I took a different approach and researched the bureaucratic requirements demanded by the state. The bureaucratic regulations required end of semester documents be submitted by Basel University to the state. These documents are stored at the Staatsarchiv Basel-Stadt in Switzerland.
This research produce a document that proved, for the first time, that Nietzsche first taught this course at Basel University in 1872 (Fig. 1).
My research focuses on new possibilities of utilizing archival research. My work uses both tried and true methods of philology and historical archival research as well as new computational methods.
Philosophers often frame their arguments in exclusively abstract terms without recourse to physical, historical, or empirical evidence. My approach makes use of archival evidence as the starting point of argumentation.
For example, within Nietzsche scholarship there has been a 70 year debate about whether Nietzsche first taught his course on the "Pre-Platonic Philosophers" in 1869 or 1872. Previously, scholars were looking in various archives where Nietzsche's work is stored. I took a different approach and researched the bureaucratic requirements demanded by the state. The bureaucratic regulations required end of semester documents be submitted by Basel University to the state. These documents are stored at the Staatsarchiv Basel-Stadt in Switzerland.
This research produce a document that proved, for the first time, that Nietzsche first taught this course at Basel University in 1872 (Fig. 1).
Fig. 2: Nietzsche's Annotated Copy of Emerson's Essays
Philosophical Libraries
One of the most useful resources available to scholars is evidence of reading.
Evidence of reading can come from quotations and citations in published work. However, the more concrete evidence comes from archival records. This evidence includes book binding bills, library circulation records, receipts, and request forms from bookshops, but most of all, personal libraries.
Personal libraries and the annotations within them give us definitive evidence of reading. While quotes and citations can be culled from secondary works, annotations in the works themselves constitute much stronger evidence.
Not only do annotations prove reading and influence but can also be substantive in themselves. Many of Nietzsche's annotations (such as Fig. 2) in his copy of Emerson's Essays, could better be described as short essays or reflections.
I am currently publishing commentaries for a project with an international group of Nietzsche scholars to write commentaries on all the works in Nietzsche library and transcribe all his annotations therein.
One of the most useful resources available to scholars is evidence of reading.
Evidence of reading can come from quotations and citations in published work. However, the more concrete evidence comes from archival records. This evidence includes book binding bills, library circulation records, receipts, and request forms from bookshops, but most of all, personal libraries.
Personal libraries and the annotations within them give us definitive evidence of reading. While quotes and citations can be culled from secondary works, annotations in the works themselves constitute much stronger evidence.
Not only do annotations prove reading and influence but can also be substantive in themselves. Many of Nietzsche's annotations (such as Fig. 2) in his copy of Emerson's Essays, could better be described as short essays or reflections.
I am currently publishing commentaries for a project with an international group of Nietzsche scholars to write commentaries on all the works in Nietzsche library and transcribe all his annotations therein.
Fig. 3: The fair copy of Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil
Genetic Interpretation
Perhaps the strongest archival methodology to be developed recently is genetic interpretation. This form of interpretation traces the genesis of a text. The text is traced from preliminary drafts, through hand written fair copies (such as Fig 3), print manuscripts, correction copies, author's examination copies, and finally to first and even later editions.
Such analysis allows us to draw certain conclusions about particular pieces of text and make other conclusions simply untenable.
Genetic interpretations aim at beginning with a set of evidence and tracing the changes in that evidence up to and even after publication. Genetic readings, therefore, offer us a glimpse at a text as a process rather than as a static object. It is through these changes and developments that we can then offer evidence based interpretations of the final text.
Perhaps the strongest archival methodology to be developed recently is genetic interpretation. This form of interpretation traces the genesis of a text. The text is traced from preliminary drafts, through hand written fair copies (such as Fig 3), print manuscripts, correction copies, author's examination copies, and finally to first and even later editions.
Such analysis allows us to draw certain conclusions about particular pieces of text and make other conclusions simply untenable.
Genetic interpretations aim at beginning with a set of evidence and tracing the changes in that evidence up to and even after publication. Genetic readings, therefore, offer us a glimpse at a text as a process rather than as a static object. It is through these changes and developments that we can then offer evidence based interpretations of the final text.
Selected Publications
Peer Reviewed Journal Publications:
“Does Nietzsche have a ‘Nachlass’?” Nietzsche-Studien 49, no. 1 (2020): 216-257
- This article argues that Nietzsche scholars are using the term "Nachlass" inconsistently. Scholars articulate different demarcation criteria and therefore demarcate different sets of textual objects as Nachlass. This article challenges any universal demarcation between the Nachlass and the published work. It concludes that new genetic research tracking the genesis of particular texts is a more sound methodological approach than abstract demarcations between published and Nachlass works.
“Dating Nietzsche’s Lecture Notes for “The Pre-Platonic Philosophers.” Nietzsche-Studien. Volume 48, Issue 1. (October 2019).
- This article argues that Nietzsche's course, "The Pre-Platonic Philosophers," can be best dated to 1872 based on archival evidence from Staatsarchiv Basel-Stadt in Switzerland.
“Nachweis aus Friedrich Ueberweg, Ueber die platonische Weltseele, in: Rheinsches Museum 9 (1854)” Nietzsche-Studien. [Forthcoming]. Co-authored with Simon Dutton [William A. B. Parkhurst first author].
- This work presents evidence of Nietzsche's continued use of Ueberweg in his course "The Pre-Platonic Philosophers." Nietzsche quotes and paraphrases but does not cite his source.
“Schopenhauer’s Sources on Mathematics Surrounding The World as Will and Representation.” Schopenhauer-Jahrbuch. Volume 100, Issue 1. (2019): 31-58.
- This essay provides a resource for scholars offering various tables of Schopenhauer's sources on mathematics based on archival evidence. This includes sources from his education during his school days, library circulation records from two different libraries, and texts in his personal library.
"Zarathustra’s Disgust: Rejecting the Foundation of Western Metaphysics.” The Agonist. A Nietzsche Circle Journal. Special issue concerning Nietzsche on the Affects. Volume XII, Issues 1 & 2 (Fall 2019/Spring 2020): 92-112.
- This essay argues that disgust is the foundation of western metaphysics for Nietzsche. Eternal recurrence offers a way to magnify this disgust and provides a possible path to overcoming it and affirming life.
"Does Foucault Have a Published OEuvre?" Le foucaldien 6, no. 1 (2020): 7, 1–38.
- Foucault scholars have long been in disagreement about which texts of Foucault should be prioritized. Central to this disagreement is whether to prioritize the published or the unpublished work. This article challenges any universal demarcation between the unpublished and the published work. Instead, I argue we should offer genetic, historical, and contextual readings that focus on individual texts in their concrete materiality.
“Nietzsche and the Archive: Digital Genetic Analysis and Human, All-Too-Human." Nietzscheforschung. [Forthcoming].
- This article puts forward a genetic analysis of one section of Human, All-Too-Human. I argue that a genetic analysis reveals that the complete editions of Nietzsche's works (KGW and KSA) cannot be considered complete without also working with the archived documents in their original form. I then present an index of archival documents with links to digital archival resources for future genetic research on Human, All-Too-Human.
"Alfred Lorentz: Commentary on ‘Antiquariatskatalog Nr. 10. 1881 der Buchhandlung Alfred Lorentz’ 1881.” Nietzsche’s Personal Library. Studia Nietzscheana. [Forthcoming]
- This commentary is on a book catalog in Nietzsche's personal library. I transcribe all annotations and explicate what these annotations mean in relationship to Nietzsche's history and reading.
Book Chapters:
“'Ecce Homo: Notes on Duplicates': The Great Politics of the Self.” Nietzsche and the Politics of Difference. Edited by Ashley Woodward and Andrea Rehberg. De Gruyter. [Forthcoming]
- This essay argues that all self quotations in Nietzsche's Ecce Homo, which is an autobiography of sorts, are intentional misquotations. I argue this based on archival evidence. I argue Nietzsche is using self quotation as a form of self-parody that destabilizes the synthetic unity of apperception.
“Nietzsche on Freedom, the Evolution of Language, and Social Epistemology.” Freedom and Society: Essays on Autonomy, Identity, and Political Freedom. Mercer University Press. [Forthcoming]
- In this essay I argue that Nietzsche's philosophy of language provides the condition for the possibility of a kind of political freedom.
“Authentic Compassion in the Wake of Coronavirus: A Nietzschean Climate Ethics.” Eco-Anxiety and Planetary Hope: Confronting Pandemics and the Climate Crisis. Environment and Society Series. Rowman and Littlefield Press. [Forthcoming]
- Logical frameworks, such as the prisoner's dilemma, in environmental ethics have failed to offer any reason we should care about future generations. In Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Zarathustra argues we must care about people in the future. However, Zarathustra is not clear why this is in Nietzsche's published writings. This essay uses a genetic archival methodology to trace back Nietzsche's arguments through his correction copies, fair copies, and drafts. I argue that Nietzsche believed we must care about future generations and this is based on extra-moral reasons.
