Susanne Langer in Focus

Susanne Langer (1895―1985) was one of American philosophy's most distinctive thinkers. Her philosophy was a deep exploration of human life as a continuous process of meaning-making through symbolic forms. Here, Robert E. Innis brings readers closer to Langer's precise and nuanced account of the symbolic mind. Innis shows how Langer's thought spans the sciences, aesthetics, psychology, religion, education, and music, and where it touches on concerns that were brought forward by American pragmatists such as John Dewey and William James. Innis reveals Langer's intense focus on making meaning clear as he covers her entire philosophical career. Highlighting what is of permanent value to American philosophy in Langer's work, he determines exactly what her positions were and why she proposed them. Readers will find a keen appreciation for and critical appraisal of Langer's unique philosophical vision.

Robert E. Innis is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. He is author of Semiotics: An Introductory Anthology (IUP, 1985) and Consciousness and the Play of Signs (IUP, 1994). His most recent book is Pragmatism and the Forms of Sense: Language, Perception, Technics.