Ann Van Sevenant

Ann Van Sevenant (born 10 June 1959) is a Belgian philosopher.

Biography Van Sevenant was born in Torhout, Belgium. After her humanities, she studied Film and Photography at the Lucas School of Art in Brussels.

Inspired by the teaching of Jan Wüst, she decided to study philosophy at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), where she took the courses of Leopold Flam, Hubert Dethier and Annie Reniers.

After having obtained her master's degree in 1982, she lived in Rome, where she studied history of art and aesthetics at the University La Sapienza, and attended the courses of Mario Perniola and Emilio Garroni. While preparing her doctoral thesis, she took classes with Samuel IJsseling in Leuven and later in Paris the seminars of Jacques Derrida, who was an important source of inspiration. She obtained her PhD in 1987, with a thesis entitled "Benjamin Fondane's Aesthetics. Inquiry on the autonomy of art."

Ann Van Sevenant was professor of philosophy at the University of Antwerp from 1989 to 2004. She lectured (2007/2008) at the Philosophicum de Kabgayi (Ruanda) and was invited at different universities (Urbino, Palermo, Rome, Amsterdam, Leiden, Nijmegen, Utrecht, Paris, Albany, Haifa, Oxford).

She has published numerous articles in four languages and eighteen books on contemporary philosophy and aesthetics (see bibliography). Her work has been discussed in several journals. She is an independent researcher and gives conferences at home and abroad.