Striker was born and educated in
Germany, earning her doctorate in philosophy from the
University of Göttingen under the supervision of
Günther Patzig in 1969 and her
Habilitation, also from Göttingen in 1978. She taught philosophy at Göttingen from 1971–1986, and then was professor of philosophy at
Columbia University from 1986–1989, and then at Harvard from 1989–1997. In 1997, she became the sixth
Laurence Professor of Ancient Philosophy at the
University of Cambridge,
England, serving until 2000, when she returned to Harvard. She expressed frustration with the ancient philosophy program at Harvard. ==Philosophical work==