The Great Philospopher, Susanne Langer essays

The Great Philospopher, Susanne Langer essays Most people are familiar with the greatest minds in philosophy such as Aristotle, Plato, or even John Locke. In reality, most well-known philosophers happen to be male. Women philosophers such as Hannah Arendt and Susanne Langer have faded from textbooks and have been somewhat forgotten as the decades have passed. They have not always been credited for their work. This is due to the heavy oppression that they received from the men of their time who often took credit for the work of women. Women were often looked down on and were sometimes unauthorized to have political or educational rights, so they went discredited for their work. However, unlike most women, philosopher Susanne Langer did not let men dictate her actions or educational proceedings. Susanne Langer (1895-1985) was born and raised in New York, the daughter of two German immigrants. Langer attended a private school on the upper west side, and when she graduated, her educational struggles began. Her father held the belief that Susanne should not go to college. Nonetheless, despite his wishes, she enrolled at Radcliffe College (with the encouragement of her mother) and went on to earn her bachelor's degree in 1920. In 1924, when Langer was a graduate student at Radcliffe, she began to shape the direction of her philosophical development. This change was due to the influence of her professor Alfred North Whitehead. Professor Whitehead is responsible for helping to shape Langer's perspective on the history of human thought, the origins of the modern world and the resulting contemporary situation in philosophy. These concepts were later published in her first book, 'The Practice of Philosophy'. Langer didn't look at Whitehead as only a professor, but also as a teache r, lecturer, writer, dissertation adviser, colleague, and even a friend. She dedicated her most well known book 'Philosophy in a New Key' to Professor Whiteman. She then went on to say "the writings of the sage...