27 Facts About Susanne Langer

Susanne Katherina Langer was an American philosopher, writer, and educator known for her theories on the influences of art on the mind.

Susanne Langer was one of the earliest American women to achieve an academic career in philosophy and the first woman to be professionally recognized as an American philosopher.

In 1960, Susanne Langer was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Susanne Langer was the daughter of Antonio Knauth, an attorney, and Else Uhlich, both immigrants from Germany.

Susanne Langer was exposed thoroughly to creativity and art, most specifically through music.

Susanne Langer was taught to play the cello and the piano, and she continued with the cello for the rest of her life.

Susanne Langer married William Leonard Langer, a fellow student at Harvard, in 1921, and in the same year the couple took their studies to Vienna, Austria.

Susanne Langer earned a bachelor's degree in 1920 and continued with graduate studies in philosophy at Harvard, where she received a master's diploma in 1924 and a doctorate in 1926.

Susanne Langer was a tutor in philosophy at Radcliffe from 1927 to 1942.

Susanne Langer lectured in philosophy for one year at the University of Delaware and for five years at Columbia University.

Susanne Langer 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 philosophy explored the continuous process of meaning-making in the human mind through the power of "seeing" one thing in terms of another.

Susanne Langer's first major work, Philosophy in a New Key, put forth the notion 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.

Susanne Langer believed that symbolism is the central concern of philosophy because it underlies all human knowing and understanding.

Susanne Langer is one of the earliest philosophers who paid close attention to the concept of the virtual, including early use of the term "virtual experience".

Susanne Langer describes virtuality as "the quality of all things that are created to be perceived".

Susanne Langer sees virtuality as a physical space created by the artist, such as a painting or a building, that is "significant in itself and not as part of the surroundings".

Susanne Langer explains that early organisms underwent refining through natural selection, in which certain behaviors and functions were shaped in order for them to survive.

Susanne Langer describes the body's organs all operating with specific rhythms, and these rhythms must cooperate with one another to keep the organism alive.

Susanne Langer established the use of symbols as the "epistemic unit of community", suggesting that all knowledge in a community is gained and built from shared symbol-systems within a given culture.

Susanne Langer's works were largely influenced by fellow philosophers Ernst Cassirer and Alfred North Whitehead.

Susanne Langer helped shape her perspective on these topics which she presented in her first text, The Practice of Philosophy.

Susanne Langer shared Whitehead's belief in going beyond the limitations of scientific research and believed that along with the new-found thinking and ideas that had initiated the modern era in science and philosophy, the opportunity for a rebirth of philosophical creativity would arise.

Susanne Langer dedicated Philosophy in a New Key to "Alfred North Whitehead, my great Teacher and Friend".

Susanne Langer stated, "It is a peculiar fact that every major advance in thinking, every epoch-making new insight, springs from a new type of symbolic transformation".

Susanne Langer drew from Cassirer's view in her belief that art theory must be interdependent with a theory of mind.

Susanne Langer is both cited and excerpted in Melvin Rader's classic compilation, A Modern Book of Esthetics, that has been widely used for several decades as a standard college text in esthetics.