Bryan Maddox
Assistant Professor of Philosophy
Contact Information:
414 Harden Hall
(906) 227-2535
bmaddox@nmu.edu
Education:
Ph.D. in Philosophy, DePaul University, 2025
M.A. in Philosophy, Miami University of Ohio, 2017
B.A. in Liberal Arts, Shimer College, 2014
Biography:
Professor Maddox has been teaching at NMU since January 2025, shortly after receiving his doctoral degree at DePaul University (having studied at Shimer College of Great Books, Oxford University, Miami University of Ohio, L’École Normale Supérieure at Rue d’Ulm, and the Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute). He specializes in 20th-century French philosophy and its relation to psychoanalytic theory, and his research builds on parallels between the theories of Sigmund Freud and Henri Bergson. He has taught a wide range of courses at Northern Michigan, DePaul, and Loyola University in applied ethics (business, biomedical, legal, technological), social theory (modern political thought, feminist and queer theory, critical race theory), topics in the philosophy of psychology (dreams, relationships, gender identity, sexuality, psychopathology), and the history of philosophy. When not teaching or writing, he is probably trying out a new recipe or playing with his dog, Thelonious Monk.
Publications
Forthcoming. “‘Life is Tendency… But Matter is Only a Tendency’: Monism, Dualism, and Difference in Creative Evolution.” Review of Metaphysics.
2016. “On the Motivations of a Skeptic, and Her Practice.” PEITHO: Examina Antiqua 7.1.
Works Under Review
“Quality and Quantity: Bergson’s Central Problem.”
“What Makes a Wish? Image and Resemblance in Freud's Theory of Dreams.”
“‘Pillow Angels’ and the Pleasure Principle.”
“Acting Out: Butler’s Politics of Melancholy”
“Approaching the Para-thetic: On Abject Writing and Kristeva’s Second Attempt at Revolution”