Susanne Langer
| Susanne Langer | |
|---|---|
Langer in 1945
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| Born |
Susanne Katerina Knauth December 20, 1895 Manhattan |
| Died | July 17, 1985 (aged 89) Old Lyme, Connecticut |
| Alma mater |
Radcliffe College (BA, 1920; PhD, 1926) |
| Era | 20th-century philosophy |
| Region | Western Philosophy |
| School | Process Philosophy |
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Main interests
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Philosophy of mind, aesthetics |
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Notable ideas
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Distinction between discursive and presentational symbols |
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Influenced
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Susanne Katherina Langer (née Knauth) (December 20, 1895 – July 17, 1985) was an American philosopher, writer, and educator and was well known for her theories on the influences of art on the mind. She was one of the first women in American history to achieve an academic career in philosophy and the first woman to be popularly and professionally recognized as an American philosopher. Langer is best known for her 1942 book entitled, Philosophy in a New Key.
Born Susanne Katherina Knauth, Langer was raised in Manhattan's West Side in New York. She was the daughter of Antonio Knauth, an attorney, and Else Uhlich, both emigrants of Germany. Though she was American born, Langer's primary language was German, as it was strictly spoken in her household throughout her youth, and her German accent remained her entire life. She was exposed thoroughly to creativity and art, most specifically through music. She was taught to play the cello and the piano, and she continued with the cello for the remainder her life. As a girl, Langer enjoyed reciting the works of great poets as well as traditional children's rhymes and tales. This sparked her love for reading and writing, and she would often write her own poems and stories to entertain her younger siblings. Her love of nature began during the summers her family spent in their cottage on Lake George. She married William Leonard Langer, a fellow student at Harvard in 1921, and in the same year they took their studies to Vienna, Austria. They had two sons and moved back to Cambridge, Massachusetts before the couple divorced in 1942. She died July 17, 1985.
Her early education included attendance at Veltin School for Girls, a private school as well as being tutored from home. In 1916, Langer enrolled at Radcliffe College. She earned the bachelor's degree in 1920 and continued with graduate studies in philosophy at Harvard, where she received the master's diploma in 1924 and the doctorate in 1926. She was a tutor in philosophy at Radcliffe from 1927 to 1942. She lectured in philosophy for one year at the University of Delaware and for five years at Columbia University (1945-1950). She also taught philosophy at the University of Michigan, New York University, Northwestern University, Ohio University, Smith College, Vassar College, the University of Washington, and Wellesley College.
Susanne Langer's unexplored thesis revolving around the connection of consciousness and aesthetics as well as her unusual use of language in her writing ultimately caused her to be scrutinized by her fellow scholars. However, it led her to further explore the complexity and nature of human consciousness.
Langer's philosophy explored the continuous process of meaning-making in the human mind through the power of “seeing” one thing in terms of another. Langer's first major work is entitled, Philosophy in a New Key. It put forth an idea that has become commonplace today: that there is a basic and pervasive human need to symbolize, to invent meanings, and to invest meanings in one’s world.
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