• Assistant Professor of Philosophy
School of Arts & Sciences

About Me

I grew up in Texas and completed my undergraduate work at the University of Texas receiving degrees in philosophy and music (piano). My love for philosophy has allowed me to live in amazing places including Florida to complete a master’s in philosophy and theology, New Zealand to write my master’s thesis on art and existentialism, and Paris to do research for my doctoral dissertation on French philosophy. I obtained my PhD from the University of Dallas and have taught at the University of Dallas, Texas State University, and Trinity University. I am married and have four daughters.

Why I’m At Mary

I love the strong and welcoming community here! From the beginning, I observed the great respect that the students and faculty have for one another and the importance that they placed on the pursuit of philosophy. I am here to foster the love for wisdom in new and deeper ways.

Expertise

History of Philosophy, Continental Philosophy (including Phenomenology, Post-modernism, Recent French philosophy), Aesthetics (Philosophy of Beauty and Art), Ethics, Philosophy of Psychology, Philosophical Theology

(Forthcoming). “The Need for Merleau-Ponty in Foucault's Account of the Abnormal.” Normality, Abnormality, and Pathology in Merleau-Ponty, edited by Talia Welsh and Susan Bredlau. SUNY Press.

Venable, Hannah Lyn. (2022). Madness in Experience and History: Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenology and Foucault’s Archaeology. New York: Routledge.

Venable, Hannah Lyn. (2021). “The Carnival of the Mad: Foucault’s window into the origin of psychology.” Foucault Studies, 30: 54-79.

Venable, Hannah Lyn. (2021) “The Weight of Bodily Presence in Art and Liturgy.” Religions, 12(3): 1-14.

Venable, Hannah Lyn. (2019). “At the Opening of Madness: An exploration of the nonrational with Merleau-Ponty, Foucault and Kierkegaard.” Journal of Speculative Philosophy, 33(3): 475-488.

Venable, Hannah Lyn. (2014) “Situating Melancholy in Kierkegaard’s The Concept of Anxiety.” Philosophy & Theology Journal, 26(1): 39-64.

Education

PhD (Philosophy): University of Dallas, 2019
MA (Philosophy): University of Auckland, 2009
BA (Philosophy/Music): University of Texas at Austin, 2005

Feature Content

You can find information on my book Madness in Experience and History: Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenology and Foucault’s Archaeology through these links.