Susanne Langer
1895-1985
Logic, Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Language, Aesthetics, Philosophy of Mind

Chronology

1895: Susanne Katherina Knauth is born on December 20th in New York, one of five children.1 She was raised and influenced by her predominantly German-speaking parents: Antonio, a lawyer who played the piano and cello and Else, who influenced her appreciation for literature, especially poetry2

She attended and graduated from Veltin School, a private school near her home in the Upper West Side of New York City. 3

1916 Attends Radcliffe College in Cambridge, Massachusetts where she is elected to Phi Beta Kappa 4

While at Radcliffe College, teachers such as Alfred North Whitehead and Henry M. Sheffer, gave her the starting point for her own published work in philosophy5

1920 Receives Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy 6 - Meets Williamn Leonard Langer, a graduate student at Harvard University 7

1921 She marries William Leonard Langer on the 3rd of September8

1921-1922 Susanne and William Langer continue their studies together at the University of Vienna in Austria9

1924 Susanne Langer receives her Master of Arts degree at Radcliffe College10 Publishes first book, The Cruise of the Little Dipper and Other Fairy Tales11

1926: Susanne Langer receives Doctorate Degree at Radcliffe College 12

1927- 1942 Tutors Philosophy at Radcliffe College and lectures at Wellesley College and Smith College 13

1930: Susanne Langer publishes The Practice of Philosophy 14

1934: Lecturer in Logic at Wellesley College in Massachusetts 15

1937 Susanne Langer publishes An Introduction to Symbolic Logic 16

1942: Lecturer in Philosophy at Smith College, Massachusetts 17 She publishes Philosophy in a New Key 19

Susanne Langer divorces William Leonard Langer, with whom she had two sons, Leonard and Bertrand 20

1942-1943: Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Delaware 21

1945-1946 Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy at New York University 22

1945-1950: Lecturer in Philosophy at Columbia University in New York City23

1946: Translates Ernst Cassirer's Language and Myth from German to English24

1946-1949: Receives a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation to write Feeling and Form 25

1950: Visiting Professor of Philosophy at Northwestern University, Illinois26 Receives Radcliffe Alumnae Achievement Medal 27

1951 Co-edits Structure, Method, and Meaning: Essays in Honor of Henry M. Sheffer 28

Visiting Professor of Philosophy and English Literature at Ohio State University 29

1952-1953: Visiting Professor of Philosophy at the University of Washington 30

1953: Susanne Langer publishes Feeling and Form 31

1954: Visiting Professor of Philosophy at the University of Michigan 32

Receives honorary degree from Wilson College 33 Participates in Pivotal Concepts in the Philosophy of Art at Wesleyan University, Connecticut on March 17-19 34

1954-1962:Professor and Chairman of the Department of Philosophy at Connecticut College 35

1956: Receives Edgar J. Kaufmann Charitable Trust of Pittsburgh research grant 36

1957: Publishes Problems of Art 37

1958: Susanne Langer publishes Reflections of Art: A Source Book for Writings by Artists, Critics, and Philosophers 38

1960: Elected to the society for the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 39

1961: Attends International Conference on Education at Vassar College, New York 40

Attends conference of the Japan Society for the Philosophy of Science, Japan 41

1962: Professor Emeritus and Research Scholar at Connecticut College 42

Publishes Philosophical Sketches 43

Susanne Langer receives honorary degree from Western College for Women and Mount Holyoke College 44

1963: Works in a Colonial house in Old Lyme, Connecticut and, in her spare time plays the cello and visits her cabin in Ulster County, New York 45

1964: Receives honorary degree from Columbia University 46

1967: Publishes first volume of Mind: An Essay on Human Feeling 47

1968:Attends Society for Theoretical Biology in Italy 48 Receives honorary degree from Clark University 49

1969:Participates in Smithsonian Institution Symposium with her The Great Shift: Instinct to Intuition 50

1970: Receives Radcliffe College Founders Award 51

1971: Publishes The Great Shift: Instinct to Intuition ; in Man and Beast: Comparative Social Behavior 52

1972: Publishes volume two of Mind: An Essay on Human Feeling 53

1982: Publishes the third and final volume of Mind: An Essay on Human Feeling 54

Receives honorary degree from Connecticut College 55

1985 Susanne Katherina Knauth Langer dies on July 17th in Old Lyme 56

Works:

The Practice of Philosophy (1930)

Introduction to Symbolic Logic (1937)

Ernst Cassirer's Language and Myth (tr.) 1946)

Structure, Method, and Meaning: Essays in Honor of Henry M. Sheffer (1951) (coedited)

Feeling and Form (1953)

Reflections of Art: A Source Book for Writings by Artists, Critics, and Philosophers  (1958)

Philosophical Sketches (1962)

Mind: An Essay on Human Feeling Vol. 1. (1967)

The Great Shift: Instinct to Intuition ; in Man and Beast: Comparative Social Behavior (1971)

Mind: An Essay on Human Feeling V. 2. (1972)

Mind: An Essay on Human Feeling V. 3 (1982)

Sources consulted:

1. Charles Moritz, ed.,"Susanne K. Langer", Current Biography Yearbook (New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1963): 233.

2. Ibid., 233-4.;

3. Ibid., 234.

4. Donald Dryden, "Susanne K. Langer" Papers in the Houghton Library (Boston: Houghton Library, Connecticut College Library, 1995, photocopied),

5. "Susanne K. Langer" 234.

6. "Susanne K. Langer Papers"1.

7. Ibid.;

8. Ibid.;

9. Ibid.;

10. Ibid. ;

11. Ibid.;

12.Ibid.;

13. "Susanne K. Langer" 234.

14.Ibid.;

15."Susanne K. Langer Papers" 1. ;

16. Ibid. ;

17. Ibid. ;

18. "Susanne K. Langer" 234.

19. Ibid.

20. "Susanne K. Langer"; 235. :

21. "Susanne K. Langer" 1. ;

22. Ibid.;

23. Ibid.;

24. Ibid.

25. Susanne K. Langer, 235. ;

26. "Susanne K. Langer Papers"; 1. ;

27. "Susanne K. Langer"; 235.

28. Ibid.

29. "Susanne K. Langer Papers" 1.

30. Ibid.

31.Susanne K. Langer, 235.

32. "Susanne K. Langer Papers," 1

33. " Susanne K. Langer" 235.

34. "Susanne K. Langer Papers" 1.

35. "Susanne K. Langer", 235.

36. Ibid.

37. "Susanne K. Langer Papers" 1.

38. Ibid.

39. "Susanne K. Langer"235.

40. Ibid.

41. Ibid.

42. "Susanne K. Langer Papers".2

43. Ibid.

44. Ibid.

45. "Susanne K. Langer"; 235.

46. "Susanne K. Langer Papers" 2.

47. Ibid.

48. Ibid.

49. Ibid.

50. Ibid.

51. Ibid. ;

52. Ibid.

53. Ibid.

54. Ibid.

55. Ibid.

56. Ibid.

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This page was last updated 12/17/15.