Jason Yonover

Many philosophers deny any justificatory value to something they call “genealogy”—especially one variety of it labeled “critical genealogy,” let alone “genealogical debunking”—even if they are increasingly interested in understanding genealogy’s powers. In this paper, I suggest that Nietzsche can evade some common concerns surrounding genealogy, or I even indicate that he shares some of them—despite the fact that Nietzsche is even more interested in genealogy’s force, and indeed self-consciously willing to exploit it. In particular, I argue that for Nietzsche genealogy can have propaedeutic relevance, as it can help Nietzsche’s target audience shed unproductive moral prejudices and get onto a better path, even if genealogy must later be cast away as one progresses down that path.

Bio

Jason Maurice Yonover holds PhDs from Johns Hopkins University in both Philosophy and Modern Languages & Literatures. He works primarily in the history of philosophy and in political philosophy, with research especially situated at the intersection of early modern philosophy and modern German philosophy.

He is currently a Postdoctoral Associate in Jewish Studies and Philosophy at Yale University, having previously held a postdoctoral position in Philosophy at Princeton University. Yonover is co-editor of Spinoza in Germany: Political and Religious Thought Across the Long Nineteenth Century (Oxford University Press) and has published articles in journals such as the European Journal of Philosophy and British Journal for the History of Philosophy.

His research interests include freedom, power, right, and the reception of Spinoza in German philosophical traditions. He also teaches on topics such as free will, Spinoza, Kant, Nietzsche, and modern German thought.