Harris taught briefly at the University of Colorado (1921–22), but the bulk of her academic career was spent at Randolph-Macon Woman's College (R-MWC) in Lynchburg, Virginia (1922–58). She was listed as an "adjunct professor" when she began her service at R-MWC in the fall of 1922,[3] but she rose up the ranks to become a full professor and chair of the Philosophy Department. From 1934 onward, she was an emerita professor at the college.[1]
Harris wrote principally on the French philosophers Comte and Henri Bergson and the Latin-American philosopher Francisco Romero.[1] A major theme of her writing is the role of philosophy in illuminating what is significant in an individual life, and here she shows the influence of Bergson's conception of 'life' as well as John Dewey's pragmatism.[2] The title of one of her books, Sub Specie Aeternitatis (1937, 'from the perspective of eternity'), makes visible her concern to connect what is (or may be) universally true with the individual experiences that fall within our often narrow perceptions. She is much concerned with how the human quest for truth and meaning in a life are shaped by our notions of experience, transcendence (as developed by Romero), freedom, and will.[2] One of her lines of argument holds that a satisfactory life requires a certain degree of detachment as well as the ability to resist trying to organize all experience through rigid and predetermined categories.[2]
Harris was a member of numerous professional organizations, including the American Philosophical Association.[2]
She died in 1976 in Rocky Hill, Connecticut.[2]
