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Alfred Habdank Skarbek Korzybski was a Polish-American independent scholar who developed a field called general semantics, which he viewed as both distinct from, and more encompassing than, the field of semantics. He argued that human knowledge of the world is limited both by the human nervous system and the languages humans have developed, and thus no one can have direct access to reality, given that the most we can know is that which is filtered through the brain's responses to reality. His best known dictum is "The map is not the territory".
Sanity refers to the soundness, rationality, and health of the human mind, as opposed to insanity. A person is sane if they are rational. In modern society, the term has become exclusively synonymous with compos mentis, in contrast with non compos mentis, or insanity, meaning troubled conscience. A sane mind is nowadays considered healthy both from its analytical - once called rational - and emotional aspects. According to the writer G. K. Chesterton, sanity involves wholeness, whereas insanity implies narrowness and brokenness.
General semantics is a school of thought that incorporates philosophic and scientific aspects. Although it does not stand on its own as a separate school of philosophy, a separate science, or an academic discipline, it describes itself as a scientifically empirical approach to cognition and problem solving. It has been described by nonproponents as a self-help system, and it has been criticized as having pseudoscientific aspects, but it has also been favorably viewed by various scientists as a useful set of analytical tools albeit not its own science.
The map–territory relation is the relationship between an object and a representation of that object, as in the relation between a geographical territory and a map of it. Mistaking the map for the territory is a logical fallacy that occurs when someone confuses the semantics of a term with what it represents. Polish-American scientist and philosopher Alfred Korzybski remarked that "the map is not the territory" and that "the word is not the thing", encapsulating his view that an abstraction derived from something, or a reaction to it, is not the thing itself. Korzybski held that many people do confuse maps with territories, that is, confuse conceptual models of reality with reality itself. These ideas are crucial to general semantics, a system Korzybski originated.
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The structural differential is a physical chart or three-dimensional model illustrating the abstracting processes of the human nervous system. In one form, it appears as a pegboard with tags. Created by Alfred Korzybski, and awarded a U.S. patent on May 26, 1925, it is used as a training device in general semantics. The device is intended to show that human "knowledge" of, or acquaintance with, anything is partial—not total.
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References
- ↑ Korzybski, Alfred (2023) [1933]. Science and Sanity: An Introduction to Non-Aristotelian Systems and General Semantics (6 ed.). Institute of General Semantics. ISBN 9781970164220.
- 1 2 Temple, G. (1935). "Science and Sanity: An Introduction to Non-Aristotelian Systems and General Semantics. By Alfred Korzybski . Lancaster, Penn., and New York: The International Non-aristotelian Library Publishing Company, 1933. Pp. xx + 798". Philosophy . 10 (38): 245–247. doi:10.1017/S0031819100018635. ISSN 0031-8191.
- 1 2 Baker, Joseph E. (1945). "The Science of Man". College English . 6 (7). National Council of Teachers of English: 395–401. doi:10.2307/371069. ISSN 0010-0994. JSTOR 371069 . Retrieved 2025-01-10.
- ↑ Review by Bobby Matherne: https://southerncrossreview.org/26/matherne-bookreview.htm
- ↑ Levinson, Martin H. (2024). "BOOK REVIEW". ETC: A Review of General Semantics. 81 (1). Institute of General Semantics: 147–148. ISSN 0014-164X.
- ↑ Reesinck, J. J. M. (1946). "On Korzybski". Synthese . 5 (5/6). Springer: 231–236. doi:10.1007/BF02274385. ISSN 0039-7857. JSTOR 20113869 . Retrieved 2025-01-12.
- ↑ Haslam, Gerald (1970). "Korzybski's Quest". ETC: A Review of General Semantics. 27 (1). Institute of General Semantics: 67–80. ISSN 0014-164X. JSTOR 42574611 . Retrieved 2025-01-10.
- ↑ Lahman, Mary P. (2013). "General Semantics: Understanding Korzybski's Formulations". ETC: A Review of General Semantics. 70 (2). Institute of General Semantics: 111–119. ISSN 0014-164X. JSTOR 42579251 . Retrieved 2025-01-10.
- ↑ Korzybski, A. (1933). Science and sanity. An introduction to non-Aristotelian systems and general semantics. International Non-Aristotelian Library.
- ↑ Kenneth G. Johnson - Korzybski on Research: Suggestions from Science and Sanity, available at the book General Semantics in Psychotherapy: Selected Writings on Methods Aiding Therapy pp. 185–201
- ↑ Robertson, Thomas (1949-06-09). "Views and Reviews: SCIENCE AND SANITY". The New English Weekly. XXXV (9): 103–104 – via reproduction in General Semantics Bulletin, Numbers 1&2, Autumn-Winter 1949–1950, Institute of General Semantics, Lakeville, CT, pp. 51–52.
- ↑ Korzybski, Alfred (2010) [1948]. "Author's Note". Selections from Science and Sanity: An Introduction to Non-Aristotelian Systems and General Semantics (2 ed.). Institute of General Semantics. p. xi. ISBN 9780982755914.
