In-determinism in Susanne Langer’s Philosophical Concept of Feeling and Eastern Thinking Tradition

Authors

  • Agáta Košičanová Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15971157

Keywords:

Susanne Langer, Aesthetic Experience, Neuroscience, Neuroaesthetics, Western and Eastern Thinking Tradition, Feeling

Abstract

Western centre-periphery concepts of experiencing art within current (neuro)aesthetics show the way Susanne K. Langer’s philosophy of art intersects with the non-Western mode of thinking. To find what is conceptualised as undetermined in Langer’s philosophical concept of feeling and, more generally, art, this paper offers a shortened review of her position explained in several neuroscientific studies. Additionally, it looks at how Western neuroscientific categories would possibly lead a dialogue with the conceptualisation of creation and art in the Eastern thinking tradition. The submitted study aims to open a possible untraditional vista for comprehension of, first and foremost, a communicative function of art employing non-reductive comprehension of its nature. In the way of such a constituting, it will present overlaps of the neuroscientific line, Langer’s work, and Eastern (Japanese) thinking tradition. Thus, to also be onto the importance of the unacknowledged significance of Susanne Langer’s work, bridging will appear at the centre of attention.

References

Berstrand, T. (2021) ‘The Art of Living in a Double Houseʼ, in Kvokačka, A. and Giombini, L. (eds) Everydayness. Contemporary Aesthetic Approaches. Prešov: University of Prešov, Faculty of Arts, Roma TrE-Press, pp. 196-206. DOI: 10.13134/978-80-555-2778-9.

Bertocci, A.P. (1969) ‘Review Article: Susanne Langer, or the Symbol Abstractedʼ, Philological Quarterly, 48(2), p. 261. Available at: https://search.proquest.com/openview/73760e19ff21eff6fd288fc763efebd6/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=1816494 (Accessed: 20 November 2023).

britannica (2024), ‘T. EDITORS OF ENCYCLOPAEDIA. JEROME BRUNERʼ, Encyclopedia Britannica, Available at: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jerome-Bruner (Accessed: 1 June 2024).

Bronk, W. (1983) Vectors and smoothable curves. Collected essays. San Francisco: North Point Press.

Browning, M.M. (2006) ‘Neuroscience and imagination: relevance of Susanne Langer’s work to psychoanalytic theoryʼ, Psychoanal Q, 75(4), pp. 1131–59. doi: 10.1002/j.2167-4086.2006.tb00070.x. (Accessed: 1 June 2024).

Browning, M.M. (2017a) ‘Feeling one’s way in the world: Making a lifeʼ, The International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 98:4, pp. 1075–1095. http://doi.org/10.1111/1745-8315.12578. (Accessed: 1 June 2024).

Browning, M.M. (2017b) ‘Whose Voice Speaks for Consciousness?ʼ, Journal of Consciousness Studies, 24(9–10), pp. 181–204.

Browning, M.M. (2019) ‘Our Symbolic Minds: What Are They Really?ʼ, The Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 88(1), pp. 25–52. https://doi.org/10.1080/00332828.2019.1556037. (Accessed: 1 June 2024).

Cascales, R. (2024) ‘La exploración del significado a través del arte en la filosofía de Susanne K. Langerʼ, in Merino, N. S. (ed.) Mujeres en la Filosofía. Madrid: Sindéresis, pp. 107–122.

Crivelato, E. and Ribatti D. (2007) ‘Soul, mind, brain: Greek philosophy and the birth of neuroscienceʼ, Brain Research Bulletin, 71(4), pp. 327–336. doi.org/10.1016/j.brainresbull.2006.09.020. (Accessed: 1 June 2024).

Dengerink Chaplin, A. (2021) The Philosophy of Susanne Langer. Embodied Meaning in Logic, Art and Feeling. London: Bloomsbury Academic.

Dewey, J. (1934) Art as Experience. New York: Capricorn Books. G. P. Putnam’s Sons.

Dryden, D. (1997) ‘Susanne K. Langer and American Philosophic Naturalism in the Twentieth Centuryʼ, Transaction of the Charles S. Pierce Society, 33(1), pp. 161–82. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40320624 (Accessed: 4 February 2024).

Dryden, D. (2001) ‘Susanne Langer and William James: Art and the Dynamics of the Stream of Consciousnessʼ, The Journal of Speculative Philosophy, 15(4), pp. 272–285. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25670386 (Accessed: 21 October 2023).

Dryden, D. (2007) ‘The Philosopher as Prophet and Visionary: Susanne Langer’s Essay on Human Feeling in the Light of Subsequent Developments in the Sciencesʼ, Journal of Speculative Philosophy, 21(1), pp. 27–43.

Dryden, D. (2024) ‘The Meaning of “feeling” in Susanne K. Langer’s Project of Mindʼ, in Gaikis, L. (ed.) The Bloomsbury Handbook of Susanne K. Langer. London: Bloomsbury Academic, pp. 133–147.

Eckardt, M.H. (1991) ‘The Ambivalent Relationship of Psychoanalysis and Creativity: Contribution of Suzanne Langer to the Formative Process of our Psycheʼ, The Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis and Dynamic Psychiatry, 19(4), pp. 620–629. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1521/jaap.1.1991.19.4.620 (Accessed: 16 January 2024).

Featherstone, W. (2013) ‘Intersections With “Oʼʼ, Australian Journal of Psychotherapy, 31(1), pp. 34–57.

Feenberg, A. (2019) Nishida, Kawabata, and the Japanese Response to Modernity. Japan: Nagoya, Chisokudō Publications.

Garcia, R.B. (2019) ‘In Search of an Aesthetics of Emptiness: Two European Thinkers’, in Michiko, Y. (Ed.) The Bloomsbury Research Handbook of Contemporary Japanese Philosophy. Great Britain: Bloomsbury Academic, pp. 187–204.

Gardner, H.E. (1982) ‘Art, Mind, and Brain. A Cognitive Approach to Creativity’, in Philosophy in a New Key Revisited: An Appreciation of Susanne Langer. New York: Basic Books, pp. 48–54. http://www.anthonyflood.com/gardnerlanger.htm. (Accessed: 1 June 2024).

Haubert, L.E. (2019) ‘Notes on Aesthetic Experience and Everyday Experience in John Deweyʼ, Cognitio-Estudos Revista Eletrônica de Filosofia (Philosophy Electronic Journal), 16(2), pp. 222–232. https://doi.org/10.23925/1809-8428.2019v16i2p222-232 (Accessed: 1 March 2025).

Hodgkin, R.A. (1997) ‘Making Space for Meaningʼ, Oxford Review of Education, 23(3), pp. 385–99. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1050963 (Accessed: 30 March 2024).

humansandnature (2024). ‘ANDREAS WEBERʼ, Center for Humans and Nature, Available at: https://humansandnature.org/andreas-weber/ (Accessed: 20 January 2023).

Ihringová, K. (2016) ‘Od neuroestetiky k dejinám umeniaʼ, Profil súčasného výtvarného umenia, (2), pp. 132–139. Available at: http://www.profilart.sk/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/4-Studia-Ihring-Neuroestet-2016.pdf (Accessed: 18 September 2023).

informationphilosopher (2023) ‘ANDREA LAVAZZAʼ, The Information Philosopher. Available at: https://www.informationphilosopher.com/solutions/philosophers/lavazza/ (Accessed: 15 February 2023).

informationphilosopher (2024), ‘STUART KAUFFMANʼ, The Information Philosopher, Available at: https://www.informationphilosopher.com/solutions/scientists/kauffman/ (Accessed: 28 March 2024).

Innis, R.E. (2007) ‘Symposium on Susanne K. Langer: Introductionʼ, The Journal of Speculative Philosophy, 21(1), pp. 1–3. doi:10.1353/jsp.2007.0021. (Accessed: 1 June 2024).

Iwao Kōyama (1935) Nishida’s Philosophy. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten.

Jisoo, K. (2019) ‘A Critical History of Visual Neuroaesthetics – from S. Zeki to H. Lederʼ, in Janković, N., Drobnjak, B. and Nikolić, M. (eds) 21st Proceedings of the International Congress of Aesthetics, Possible Worlds of Contemporary Aesthetics: Aesthetics Between History, Geography and Media, Book of Abstracts. Belgrade, University of Belgrade –Faculty of Architecture, pp. 1348–1355. Available at: https://www.academia.edu/40401145/21st_International_Congress_of_Aesthetics_Possible_Worlds_of_Contemporary_Aesthetics_Aesthetics_Between_History_Geography_and_Media_Book_of_Abstracts (Accessed 17 July 2023).

Košičanová, A. (2015a) ‘Langerovej estetika: reflexie v dejinách európskej estetikyʼ, ESPES. The Slovak Journal of Aesthetics, 4(1), pp. 12–15. doi:https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6387894. (Accessed: 1 June 2024).

Košičanová, A. (2015b) ‘Susanne Langerová a perifériaʼ, in Migašová, J. and Makky, L. (eds) Metamorfózy, transformácie a vektory posunu centra a periférie v priestoroch umenia a kultúry. Prešov: Prešovská univerzita v Prešove, pp. 132–142. Available at: http://www.pulib.sk/web/kniznica/elpub/dokument/Migasova2 (Accessed: 28 August 2023).

Košičanová, A. (2022) ‘Contemporary Perspectives on Susanne K. Langer’s Concept of Mindʼ, ESPES. The Slovak Journal of Aesthetics, 11(1), pp. 99–114. doi:https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6647400. (Accessed: 1 June 2024).

Košičanová, A. (2024) ‘LANGER’S POSITION WITHIN WESTERN AND EASTERN OVERLAPPING THOUGHTʼ, in Kopčáková, S. and Makky, L. (eds) Súradnice estetiky, umenia a kultúry 9, Medzi minulosťou a súčasnosťou estetiky – kritické edície v kontextoch historickej pamäti a kritické čítanie ako aktualizácia európskeho estetického myslenia. Prešov: Prešovská univerzita v Prešove, pp. 132–142. Available at: https://elibrary.pulib.sk/elpub/document/isbn/9788055532967 (Accessed: 10 March, 2025).

Kvokačka, A. and Giombini, L. (2021) Everydayness. Contemporary Aesthetic Approaches. Prešov: University of Prešov, Faculty of Arts, Roma TrE-Press, DOI: 10.13134/978-80-555-2778-9. (Accessed: 1 June 2024).

langercircle (2024) ‘UTRECHT UNIVERSITY, SUSANNE K. LANGER CIRCLEʼ, Susanne K. Langer Circle. Available at: https://langercircle.sites.uu.nl/about (Accessed 3 March 2023).

Langer, S.K. (1942) Philosophy in a New Key (a Study in the Symbolism of Reason, Rite and Art). Cambridge: Massachusetts, Harvard University Press.

Langer, S.K. and Gadol, E.T. (1950) ‘The Deepening Mind; A Half-Century of American Philosophyʼ, American Quarterly, 2(2), pp. 118–132.

Langer, S.K. (1953) Feeling and Form (A Theory Developed from Philosophy in a New Key). New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.

Langer, S.K. (1957) Problems of Art; Ten Philosophical Lectures. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.

Langer, S.K. (1960) ‘The origins of speech and its communicative functionʼ, Quarterly Journal of Speech, 46(2), pp. 121–134. DOI: 10.1080/00335636009382402. (Accessed: 1 June 2024).

Langer, S.K. (1962) Philosophical Sketches. London: Oxford University Press.

Langer, S.K. (1982) Mind: An Essay on Human Feeling. Vol. III. Baltimore and London: The John Hopkins University Press.

Lavazza, A. (2009) ‘Art as a metaphor of the mind (A neo-Jamesian aesthetics embracing phenomenology, neuroscience, and evolutionʼ, Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, 8(2) 159–182. Available at: https://www.academia.edu/4967039/Art_as_a_metaphor_of_the_mind (Accessed: 19 May 2024).

Leddy, T. (2024) ‘Susanne K. Langer, Everyday Aesthetics, and Virtual Worldsʼ, in Gaikis, L. (ed.) The Bloomsbury Handbook of Susanne K. Langer. London: Bloomsbury Academic, pp. 263–274.

Mulligan, K. (1995) ‘Perception’, in Smith, B. and Woodruff Smith, D. (eds) The Cambridge Companion to Husserl. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 168–238.

Nadal, M. and Skov, M. (2013) ‘Introduction to the special issue: Toward an interdisciplinary neuroaestheticsʼ, Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 7(1), pp. 1–12. DOI:10.1037/a0031842. (Accessed: 1 June 2024).

Nelson, B.K. (1994) ‘Susanne K. Langer’s Conception of ’Symbol’ - Making Connections through Ambiguityʼ, The Journal of Speculative Philosophy, 8(4), pp. 277–296. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25670119 (Accessed: 23 March 2024).

newspapers (2002), ‘OBITUARY FOR ANGELO PHILIP BERTOCCI (AGED 94)ʼ, Newspapers by ancestry (The Boston Gloge. Boston, Massachusetts. Sunday, 21.4.2002). Available at: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50803293/obituary-for-angelophilip-bertocci/(Accessed: 30 March 2023).

newworldencyclopedia (2023), ‘SUSANNE LANGERʼ, New World Encyclopedia, 27 February. Available at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hlPCkoIHwa9uQ6q9xOqjec8Cgb7h0tAG/view (Accessed: 15 June 2024).

Perrin, J. (2003) ‘THE GUARDIAN. OBITUARY. ROBIN HODGKINʼ, The Guardian, Sat 30 Aug 2003. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/news/2003/aug/30/guardianobituaries.highereducation/ (Accessed: 18 January 2023).

PhilPapers (2025), ‘RAQUEL CASCALESʼ, PhilPeople. Available at: https://philpeople.org/profiles/raquel-cascales?app=%27A%3D0 (Accessed: 9 March 2025).

platostandfordedu (2024), ‘YURIKO SAITO: AESTHETICS OF THE EVERYDAYʼ, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Available at: https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2021/entries/aesthetics-of-everyday/ (Accessed: 15 February 2024).

Polo, M. (2024) “Susanne Langer (1895-1985): Susanne Langer y el carácter simbólico de la música,” in Godoy, M.J. and Infant, F. (eds) Estéticas perdidas: Un encuentro con las sensibilidades olvidadas. Valencia: Universidad de Valencia, pp. 349-368.

psychoanalysis (2024), ‘WILFRED BIONʼ, Institute of Psychoanalysis. British Psychoanalytical Society. Available at: https://psychoanalysis.org.uk/our-authorsand-theorists/wilfred-bion/ (Accessed: 20 February 2023).

Reichling, M.J. (1998) ‘A WOMAN AHEAD OF HER TIME: THE LANGER LEGACYʼ, Philosophy of Music Education Review, 6(1), pp. 12–21. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40327112 (Accessed: 5 March 2024).

Richter, C. (2007) ‘The Body of Susanne K. Langer's Mindʼ, Advances in Consciousness Research, pp. 107–25. doi:10.1075/AICR.71.10RIC. (Accessed: 1 June 2024).

Trentini, B. (2016) ‘Philosophical Aesthetics and Neuroaesthetics: A Common Future?ʼ, in Kapoula, Z. and Vernet, M. (eds) Aesthetics and Neuroscience (Scientific and Artistic Perspectives). Switzerland: Springer International Publishing, pp. 301–311. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-46233-2. (Accessed: 1 June 2024).

Weber, A. (2002) ‘Feeling the signs: The origins of meaning in the biological philosophy of Susanne K. Langer and Hans Jonasʼ, Sign Systems Studies, 30(1), pp. 183–200. doi.org/10.12697/SSS.2002.30.1.11. (Accessed: 1 June 2024).

Wittgenstein, L. (1961) Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. Translated by D.F. Pears and B.F. Guiness. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

Downloads

Published

2025-07-29

How to Cite

In-determinism in Susanne Langer’s Philosophical Concept of Feeling and Eastern Thinking Tradition. (2025). ESPES The Slovak Journal of Aesthetics, 14(1). https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15971157