67 NIETZSCHE AS EDUCATOR: A REEXAMINATION James Scott Johnston Department of Curriculum University of Sarasota INTRODUCTION There have been many educational Nietzsches, particularly in the past twenty- five years, and all of them claim in one way or another to unlock the hidden educator in the philosopher. There is, for example, the educator-Nietzsche that is recon- structed entirely from Thus Spake Zarathustra.’ The author of this particular hermeneutic wishes us to believe that Nietzsche’s educational “theory“ can stand alone and complete from this one text even though much of Nietzsche’s early writings, and indeed some of his later ones, concerned themselves with the state of education in his time.2 And then there are the “one theme” Nietzsches. We have the Nietzsche who uses sublimation in an educational manner.3And a Nietzsche who advocates ”free” education4 There is also the Dionysian “agonistic” Nietzsche,5 as well as a metaphysical Nietzsche, the “pedagogical anthropologist” who ultimately views all cultural criticism as broadly educative.6 We have the aristocratic, anti- university, anti-system Nietzsche, who purportedly argues for a complete disman- tling of the German educational system,’ as well as the Nietzsche who remains sympathetic to education, advocating as he does an aristocracy of the self.* Not surprisingly, only one recent commentator’ attempts to tackle in any forthright fashion what ultimately figures as the larger question looming on the horizon: What possibility is there to reconcile the ideal of Nietzsche as educator with current democratic education as it is practiced in America? 1. Haim Gordon, “Nietzsche’s Zarathustra as Educator,” [ournal of Philosophy of Education 14, no. 2 2. David Cooper, “On Reading Nietzsche on Education,” [ournal of Philosophy of Education 17, no. 1 (1985): 119-26. 3. A.M. Sharp, “Nietzsche’s View of Sublimation in the Educational Process,” The [ournal of Educational Thought 9, no. 2 (1984): 99-106. 4. Eliyahu Rosenow, “What is Free Education? The Educational Significance of Nietzsche’s Thought,” Educational Theory 23, no. 4 (1973): 354-70. 5. James Hillesheim, “Nietzsche Agonistes,” Educational Theory 23, no. 4 (1973): 343-53 6. Nimrod Aloni, The Three Pedagogical Dimensions of Nietzsche’s Philosophy, Educational Theory 39, no. 4 11989): 305. 7. Allan Bloom, The Closing of the American Mind (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1987). 8. Martin Simons, ”Montessori, Superman, and Catwoman,” Educational Theory38, no. 3 (1988): 341-49. 9. Leslie Sassone, “Philosophy across the Curriculum: A Democratic Nietzschean Pedagogy,” Educational Theory 46, no. 4 (1996): 51 1-24. This is the first substantial examination of a “Nietzschean”education and its relation to democracy as a whole to come out in the last twenty-five years. Indeed, it is probably the only work to tackle this subject with sufficient depth deserving of this troubling topic. Nevertheless, as I will show, the work as a whole is seriously flawed. (1980): 181-92. EDUCATIONAL THEORY / Winter 1998 / Volume 48 / Number 1 0 1998 Board of Trustees / University of Illinois