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Science and Sanity: An Introduction to Non-Aristotelian Systems and General Semantics
1 HARDCOVER BOOK WITH DUST COVER
927 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1933
About the author
Alfred Korzybski
50 books114 followersAlfred Korzybski was a Polish engineer, mathematician, and philosopher, most famous for creating the theory of General Semantics.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
June 18, 2011
I am another reader whose life was changed by reading this book. I tripped over this dense tome in my searching (half-crazed) teenage phase of life. I think that is the only explanation for how I was able to slough through it. If I had first come across this today there is no way I would give it the time. Someone needs to do a condensed 200 page version. A copy has travelled with me in my life helping me to joyfully reach 56 years of age. Each time I think about a problem in my life or in the world I remember what I learned in this book.
In addition to the other factors making this book a difficult read is the author's application of mathematics and physics to explain, illustrate and justify his concepts. So in addition to the difficulty of the concepts, in themselves, is the additional issue of following arguments based in math and physics, which 99% of us don't like wrapping our brains around. I was lucky I enjoy reading about math and physics, while not having studied much of the subjects in school.
I consider this book the most valuable member of my book collection, and it has profoundly influenced many aspects of my life.
In addition to the other factors making this book a difficult read is the author's application of mathematics and physics to explain, illustrate and justify his concepts. So in addition to the difficulty of the concepts, in themselves, is the additional issue of following arguments based in math and physics, which 99% of us don't like wrapping our brains around. I was lucky I enjoy reading about math and physics, while not having studied much of the subjects in school.
I consider this book the most valuable member of my book collection, and it has profoundly influenced many aspects of my life.
March 9, 2013
Not for the faint of heart, this is a 900 page book packed to the brim with linguistic insight. If you have no previous background with semantics or linguistics philosophy, you might want to read "Language in thought and action" or "tyranny of words", as well as Korzybski's "Manhood of Humanity," first. Once you embark upon this journey, your disposition in life will never be the same, that i can guarantee.
December 25, 2007
"Science and Sanity" is perhaps the book that has had the most influence on my thinking. Korzybski's insight into the importance of language/semantics/reasoning is without equal.
That said, it is the one of the most difficult-to-read books I have ever run across. This stems from two principle problems. The first is that the author is not a native speaker of English. This no doubt made his explanations harder to structure. And secondly, I believe there is always going to be an inherent problem in using words to discuss words. No doubt especially true if one is building up a complex schemata.
Fascinating subject. This was the seminal work for non-Aristotelian logic and a host of other sub-specialties of Semantics. (See General Semantics @ Wiki)
And if you can slog through the book and grasp the concepts, you will never think the same again.
That said, it is the one of the most difficult-to-read books I have ever run across. This stems from two principle problems. The first is that the author is not a native speaker of English. This no doubt made his explanations harder to structure. And secondly, I believe there is always going to be an inherent problem in using words to discuss words. No doubt especially true if one is building up a complex schemata.
Fascinating subject. This was the seminal work for non-Aristotelian logic and a host of other sub-specialties of Semantics. (See General Semantics @ Wiki)
And if you can slog through the book and grasp the concepts, you will never think the same again.
September 20, 2013
It took me a whole winter - about 5 months - to read through this opus.
I really liked it - therefore the four stars.
What I retained is that a map is not the territory, and that there can be as many maps as there are individual minds.
However, I have the impression that Mr. Korzybski never questions his core belief that there is one territory, a single objective reality that might be shared among semantically educated people, resulting in sanity for all.
After having finished the book, I felt emotionally connected to Mr. Korzybski, touched by the combination of strength, gentleness and modesty his writing exudes.
I really liked it - therefore the four stars.
What I retained is that a map is not the territory, and that there can be as many maps as there are individual minds.
However, I have the impression that Mr. Korzybski never questions his core belief that there is one territory, a single objective reality that might be shared among semantically educated people, resulting in sanity for all.
After having finished the book, I felt emotionally connected to Mr. Korzybski, touched by the combination of strength, gentleness and modesty his writing exudes.
August 14, 2011
This is one of the most important books I've read. The concepts in it have become very important to my outlook on life. The reason I'm not giving it 5 stars is that, honestly, it is almost unreadable for modern humans. It is very academic. You can guess that any book that starts off with 100 pages of references just in the introduction, before it even starts, isn't going to be an easy reader. But it is well worth it. I wish that General Semantics had truly caught on. Particularly, as indicated in the title, within the practice of science. It hasn't really.
October 20, 2013
As has been noted in other reviews, this is not a book for the faint-hearted. I read all of it (save the appendices) back in the sixties and was very impressed. Some of the hard science is very dated, so you have to filter much of that out. The book definitely had an effect on the way I think about things.
I found that Harry L. Weinberg's Levels of Knowing and Existence to be much a more accessible work on the subject. S&S was more of a textbook/source-book/reference, and not really aimed at a general audience.
I found that Harry L. Weinberg's Levels of Knowing and Existence to be much a more accessible work on the subject. S&S was more of a textbook/source-book/reference, and not really aimed at a general audience.
March 8, 2012
I read it age 14 and it felt like I was wandering around inside my home, it also changed me and how I understand language, cognition, misinterpretation, misunderstanding, manipulation and religion.
December 28, 2007
It's not an easy read - but well worth it. 'Science and Sanity' changed my relationship with language radically.
September 22, 2015
This is one of the first books that I read on epistemology of non-Euclidean geometry, post-aristotelian logic systems(multi-valued/fuzzy logic) and introduced me to mathematical systems that started my quest onto Base-12 mathematics, triangular mathematics and Neurolingustic Programming.
When I first read thus book, I sought-out to improve my verbal-currency and communication. What I got from it was a prerequisite to the meta-model of NLP and the ability to delay my reactions when interacting with other people.
When I first read thus book, I sought-out to improve my verbal-currency and communication. What I got from it was a prerequisite to the meta-model of NLP and the ability to delay my reactions when interacting with other people.
September 13, 2014
Korzybski tells us talking crazy makes us crazy. Therefore talk sane, be sane. Sane speak will actually heal your nervous system. Sane speak is less in certainties and more in abstractions. Crazy speak is. Sane speak seems.
Want to read
April 25, 2008a daunting task...
May 21, 2013
The book that started it all (neurolinguistic programming)
December 13, 2020
If you are interested in the concept of paradigm shifts, this book may give you some interesting insights. Many interesting studies point back to it.
June 6, 2017
I am a fan of classic science fiction and the many references to general semantics by authors such as A. E. Vogt made me want to go to the source of these ideas. Unfortunately I found the book unreadable. I found the language difficult to understand and overly repetitive. If I didn't understand the words and phrases the first time then repeating them several times using the same words and phrases doesn't help. I read the 4th edition which is basically the 1933 version. Was my problem because the language of science, metaphysics and psychiatry really that different then? I understand that it is implying that we need to address language in a much fuller way. We can't just look at the intellectual meaning of what we say or what we hear. We need to understand the emotional response that we have to language because of our experiences in developing our response. This is done by allowing enough time for the emotional portion of the response to rise to the surface and be identified so that you don't just react to something you hear without knowing why your response came out the way it did. Or maybe I'm missing the whole point.
October 26, 2021
I think this book is complete trash. I kept trying to read it with a good will, but couldn't do much but HATE READ IT. I was expecting much of this notion of `semantic reaction' of his, and was left deeply disappointed. The book continuously emphasizes how the scientific method is a "healthy" pattern of thought, but the style with which it is written is in complete contradiction with the former message. Korzybski keeps on shifting from crytic claims concerning the human race (which he refers to the as "race", e.g., as in "racial experience", wtf?!) to examples that vaguely illustrate his claim, eventually making use of authority arguments by name dropping scientists and enclosing "scientific" pictures. The book is organized in a very loose way, chapters just add up, but don't build anything, titles are grandiloquent e.g. "Mathematics as a Language of a Structure Similar to the Structure of the Human Nervous System" (excuse me??). The language of the book is unbearable (e.g., "the organism-as-a-whole", all the words are in enclosed in snobishhh quotation marks). I am really upset I spent money for this book. This book is a joke. Read Moshe Feldenkrais instead.
August 13, 2013
science and sanity is actually the antidote to many philosophies that uses confusions in their understanding of language to create meaningless questions, and respond with meaningless answers. That being said, the book tends to repeat the same messages over and over (map is not the territory, deny the is of identity).
I think however that he is a bit naive. People make mistakes when they generalize and confuse orders of abstraction, because those mistakes are beneficial to them. A synonym for this is lying.
I disagree that language is that which creates a discrepancy between technological advancement, and social advancement. It is not language that is lagging, but it's economic understanding, that creates this imbalance. Korzybski puts too much importance on language, and in doing so forgets economics.
I think however that he is a bit naive. People make mistakes when they generalize and confuse orders of abstraction, because those mistakes are beneficial to them. A synonym for this is lying.
I disagree that language is that which creates a discrepancy between technological advancement, and social advancement. It is not language that is lagging, but it's economic understanding, that creates this imbalance. Korzybski puts too much importance on language, and in doing so forgets economics.
April 7, 2019
То что основана Альфредом Коржибски, т.е. общая семантика-эмпирическая дисциплина, представляющая собой систематическую методологию по исследованию того, как люди взаимодействуют с миром, реагируют на мир, реагируют на собственные реакции и реакции других людей и, соответственно, каким образом они изменяют своё поведение. Иными словами, такие книги делают нас умнее:))
January 11, 2022
This is a book that I want to read again every single year - it has a lifetime's worth of knowledge that I hope to grasp even a tiny fraction of.
*Even more relevant than ever given the type of word abuse and un-sanity of modern times.*
*Even more relevant than ever given the type of word abuse and un-sanity of modern times.*
May 14, 2007
This book is my #1 must read for all. It is a incredible tool for assisting the will to govern the mind instead of the other way around.
January 16, 2008
General Semantics is a system for integrating the multi-ordinal processes of our cognition and expression. An intimidating book, but well worth it.
May 24, 2018
One of the most important books of all time, which is severely under-read and under-referenced (despite some nonsense of that time inside it).
December 27, 2022
Semantics from the world of 1933
An interesting view is not to be overlooked. As in physics, we changed our concepts from Newtonian (space and time) to Einstein or non-Newtonian (space/time). We see this in any field and some of us embrace the change and see how infinite our views can still work; others of us resist knowing that there is something fundamentally wrong if you cannot put your finger on it.
Korzybski opens up our mind and world to the possibilities of Non-Aristotelian systems and general semantics.
"If one wishes to obtain a definite answer to Nature one must attack the question from a more general and less selfish point of view"
M. PLANCK
An interesting view is not to be overlooked. As in physics, we changed our concepts from Newtonian (space and time) to Einstein or non-Newtonian (space/time). We see this in any field and some of us embrace the change and see how infinite our views can still work; others of us resist knowing that there is something fundamentally wrong if you cannot put your finger on it.
Korzybski opens up our mind and world to the possibilities of Non-Aristotelian systems and general semantics.
"If one wishes to obtain a definite answer to Nature one must attack the question from a more general and less selfish point of view"
M. PLANCK
September 23, 2021
A work of rare genius about how best to observe, learn, and think. Origin of “General Semantics”. Immensely influential. Sometimes misunderstood, even by famous students. Increase your intelligence. Counter propaganda. A very thick book, heavy, and full of footnotes, but worth working through. Train your brain.
Known for the terms:
“General Semantics”
“Non-Aristotelian” (a.k.a. “Null-A”, Ā)
“Cortical-Thalamic Pause”
“The Map Is Not The Territory”
“Orders of Abstraction”
“Space-Binding”
“Time-Binding”
Known for the terms:
“General Semantics”
“Non-Aristotelian” (a.k.a. “Null-A”, Ā)
“Cortical-Thalamic Pause”
“The Map Is Not The Territory”
“Orders of Abstraction”
“Space-Binding”
“Time-Binding”
June 5, 2017
The fact that "The Art of Awareness" by Samuel Bois is a very accessible, shorter summary of this, doesn't take away from this book. This book examines the fundamentals of thinking, ranging from the basic senses, to mathematics, to psychology. Applicable to every moment of waking life.
December 19, 2020
This text is the hands down best text i have read in a very long time. I have read this book a total of 3 times now in my life, and it has helped refine my own speech and text patterns over the years greatly. Excellent no matter if it is the first time, or the third time. Enjoy!
August 17, 2022
This book was a life changer for me because it provides a straight forward explanation of levels of abstraction that we may use and often misuse for understanding the world.
The null-A pause, akin to mindfulness, is a powerful practice.
I learned about this book from reading A. E. Van Vogt's novel, "The World of Null-A."
The null-A pause, akin to mindfulness, is a powerful practice.
I learned about this book from reading A. E. Van Vogt's novel, "The World of Null-A."
September 4, 2023
“The map is not the territory”
I have to be honest, I loved the book, even though it was very hard for me to grasp the new paradigm I was facing. I will come back to it and re-read it for sure, after more than 10 years. Fascinating book!
I have to be honest, I loved the book, even though it was very hard for me to grasp the new paradigm I was facing. I will come back to it and re-read it for sure, after more than 10 years. Fascinating book!
December 27, 2017
I keep a print xeroxed next to my bed-top: I stare it every night: I've blazed it ever since I saw! My top-of-the-list.
March 19, 2021
Great influence to me. Although too much repetitive after the first 300 pages.
August 10, 2022
Count.Korzybski’s masterpiece calls in the stunning conclusion to a long and painful war between two allegedly very different ways of thinking. Now they work for each other, and each one’s unique path leads right to the heart of the other. A book to recommend to people who can no longer stand to read another #@%*ing book, burned by their own hungry faculties. For once, they recognize their language. Sunyata in an expression that even your atrophied rational side could love. I value this book at like one billion million dollars, I don't care. Life saving procedure, no pain, no anesthetic. How was it that easy? This work is so mind-rollingly helpful that it makes me glad to be alive after it was written and not before.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews