On The General Features Of Susanne K.Langer's Art Symbolism

Susanne Katherina Langer(1895-1985)was a famous American philosopher,esthetician and semiologist,Her theory the art symbolism has important influence on art researching.Susan Langer's art symbolism has a deep theoretical origin,it takes advantage of many factions and has a wide range of critical inheritance.The analytic method of mathematical logic in Whitehead's Process Philosophy,Ernst Cassirer's Cultural Symbolic Philosophy,the representation theory represented by Croce and Collingwood and the formalism theory represented by Clive Bell and Roger Fry,all these theories have some influence on Susan Langer.Her art symbolism has been formed on the basis of the criticism and inheritance of her predecessors' theories.Through deep understanding,I found that Susan Langer's art symbolism has the characteristics of abstractness and wholeness.Different from Cassirer's Cultural Symbol Philosophy,her theory does not merely see art symbols as tools for human beings to know the world,but goes deep into the interior of Art,and uses Art to define human nature.Therefore,Susan Langer's art symbolism is also a kind of art ontology.This article is based on the three characteristics of Susan Langer's art symbolism and it is divided into five parts.Chapter 1,Introduction.This part mainly introduces the theoretical source of Susan Langer's art symbolism,research status,and the main research methods and innovations of this paper.Chapter 2,The abstractness of Susan Langer's art symbolism.Due to the influence of Whitehead's mathematical logic,Susan Langer's semiotic theory has obviously logical and abstract features.The definition and the function of symbols and the distinction between signs and symbols in Susan Langer's theory all have obviously logical and abstract features.Art symbol is the core concept of Susan Langer's art symbolism,the emergence of art symbols requires abstract activities.In addition,Susan Langer also compared art abstraction with scientific abstraction,which contributes to a comprehensive understanding of artistic abstraction,and it can also explain the abstractness of art symbols.Chapter 3,The integrity of Susan Langer's art symbolism.Susan Langer's art symbolism is an organic whole,her work on art theories is a closely linked whole.Her theory of art symbols combines the excellent theoretical achievements of previous generations,and the unique art symbolism formed on the basis of criticism and inheritance of previous generations is also an organic whole.In her theory,art symbols are organically unified,the emotion expressed by art symbols is also organic and unified.And art symbol is an integral whole of emotion and form.Therefore,Susan Langer's art symbol theory has integrity characteristic.Chapter 4,Ontological characteristic of Susan Langer's art symbolism.Susan Langer's art symbolism defines the essence of man by Art,insights into human creativity through artistic activities,understands the internal structure of the human spiritual by art activities,so that our understanding of Art has been completed the promotion from epistemology to ontology.Susan Langer's art symbolism is an organic unified ontology structure of virtual image,illusion and abstract.Through the study of these three levels of Art,we'll form a more comprehensive understanding of Art.Chapter 5,The significance and limitations of Susan Langer's art symbolism.Susan Langer's art symbolism is of great significance in the field of art researching,she starts Art researching from the perspective of symbol,which opens a new perspective in the study of Art.The abstractness,integrity and ontological characteristics of her art symbolism all have some implications for the study of other people's Art study.There are many ideas in her art theory that correspond with ancient Chinese Aesthetics,which plays an important role in promoting the development of ancient Chinese Literary Theories.Susan Langer's art symbolism combines many previous theoretical achievements,making his art theory lack of innovation.Her art symbolism is based on abstract activities of human culture,and lacked of connection with social life.Therefore we should pay attention to its limitations while affirming Susan Langer's art symbolism.