View source for Alfred Korzybski

{{Short description|Polish-American scholar and philosopher (1879–1950)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2013}}
{{Infobox philosopher
 | name          = Alfred Korzybski
 | image         = Alfred Korzybski.jpg
 |birth_name=Alfred Habdank Skarbek Korzybski
 | birth_date    = {{birth date|1879|7|3|mf=y}}
 | birth_place   = [[Warsaw]], [[Vistula Country]], [[Russian Empire]]
 | death_date    = {{death date and age|1950|3|1|1879|7|3|mf=y}}
 | death_place   = [[Lakeville, Connecticut]], U.S.
 | alma_mater    = [[Warsaw University of Technology]] 
| main_interests = {{flatlist|
* [[Engineering]]
* [[Logic]]
* [[Mathematics]]
* [[Philosophy]]
* [[Semantics]]
}}
 | spouse         = {{marriage|[[Mira Edgerly]]|1919}}
 | institutions   = [[Institute of General Semantics]]
 | notable_ideas  = [[General semantics]]<br>''[[The map is not the territory]]''
 | known_for       = ''[[Science and Sanity]]'' (1933)
| era           = [[Modern philosophy]]
* [[20th-century philosophy]]
| region        = [[Western philosophy]]
* [[American philosophy]]
* [[Polish philosophy]]
}}
'''Alfred Habdank Skarbek Korzybski''' ({{IPAc-en|k|ɔːr|ˈ|z|ɪ|b|s|k|i|,_|k|ə|ˈ|ʒ|ɪ|p|s|k|i|audio=LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-Korzybski.wav}} {{Respell|kor|ZIB|skee|,_|kə|ZHIP|skee}};<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/korzybski|title=Korzybski|work=[[Collins English Dictionary]]|publisher=[[HarperCollins]]|access-date=27 August 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite Merriam-Webster|Korzybski|access-date=27 August 2019}}</ref> {{IPA|pl|ˈalfrɛt kɔˈʐɨpskʲi|lang}}; July 3, 1879 &ndash; March 1, 1950) was a Polish-American philosopher and 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 [[language]]s 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 "[[Map–territory relation|The map is not the territory]]". Many of his ideas were presented in his book ''[[Science and Sanity]]'' (1933).

==Early life and career==
[[File:Herb Abdank.svg|thumb|right|160px|Alfred Korzybski's family coat-of-arms (see [[Abdank coat of arms]]).]]
Born in [[Warsaw]], [[Vistula Country]], which was then part of the [[Russian Empire]], Korzybski belonged to an aristocratic Polish family whose members had worked as mathematicians, scientists, and engineers for generations. He learned the [[Polish language]] at home and the [[Russian language]] in schools, and having a French and German [[governess]], he became fluent in four languages as a child.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kodish |first=Bruce I. |title=Korzybski: A Biography |publisher=Extensional Publishing |location=Pasadena, CA |year=2011 |page=31 |isbn=978-0-9700664-0-4}}</ref>

Korzybski studied engineering at the [[Warsaw University of Technology]]. During the [[First World War]] (1914–1918) Korzybski served as an [[Military intelligence|intelligence officer]] in the [[Russia]]n Army. After being wounded in a leg and suffering other injuries, he moved to North America in 1916 (first to Canada, then to the United States) to coordinate the shipment of [[artillery]] to Russia. He also lectured to Polish-American audiences about the conflict, promoting the sale of [[war bonds]]. After the war he decided to remain in the United States, becoming a [[Naturalization|naturalized citizen]] in 1940. He met [[Mira Edgerly-Korzybska|Mira Edgerly]],<ref>
{{cite web
 |author= Don Shelton 
 |url= http://american-miniatures20c.blogspot.com/2007/06/edgerly-mira-portrait-of-three-sisters.html
 |title= 20C - American Miniature Portraits: Korzybska, Mira Edgerly - portrait of three sisters or a triptych?
 |website= American-miniatures20c.blogspot.com
 |date= 1954-07-13 |access-date= 2016-06-28
}}
</ref> a painter of portraits on ivory, shortly after the [[Armistice of 11 November 1918|1918 Armistice]]; They married in January 1919; the marriage lasted until his death.

[[E. P. Dutton]] published Korzybski's first book, ''Manhood of Humanity'', in 1921. In this work he proposed and explained in detail a new theory of humankind: mankind as a "[[General semantics#The major premises|time-binding]]" class of life (humans perform time binding by the transmission of knowledge and [[abstraction]]s through time which become accreted in cultures).
In 1925 and 1926, Korzybski observed psychiatric patients at St. Elizabeth's hospital in D.C. under the supervision of [[William Alanson White]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Korzybski |first=Alfred |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Liup07h3fbIC&pg=PR23 |title=Collected Writings, 1920-1950 |date=1990 |publisher=Institute of GS |isbn=978-0-910780-08-7 |language=en}}</ref>

==General semantics==
Korzybski's work culminated in the initiation of a discipline that he named [[general semantics]] (GS). This should not be confused with [[semantics]]. The basic principles of general semantics, which include time-binding, are described in the book ''[[Science and Sanity]]'', published in 1933. In 1938, Korzybski founded the [[Institute of General Semantics]] in Chicago.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.generalsemantics.org/about-us/history/ |title=The Institute of General Semantics » History |website=Generalsemantics.org |access-date=2016-06-28}}</ref> The post-World War II housing shortage in Chicago cost him the institute's building lease, so in 1946 he moved the institute to [[Lakeville (Salisbury, Connecticut)|Lakeville, Connecticut]], U.S., where he directed it until his death in 1950.

Korzybski maintained that humans are limited in what they know by (1) the structure of their nervous systems, and (2) the [[structure]] of their languages. Humans cannot experience the world directly, but only through their "abstractions" (nonverbal impressions or "gleanings" derived from the nervous system, and verbal indicators expressed and derived from language). These sometimes mislead us about what is the truth. Our understanding sometimes lacks ''similarity of structure'' with what is actually happening.<ref>{{cite book | last=Korzybski | first=Alfred | title=Science and Sanity: An Introduction to Non-Aristotelian Systems and General Semantics | edition=6 | year=2023 | orig-year=1933 | page=57 | publisher=Institute of General Semantics | isbn=9781970164220}}</ref>

He sought to train our awareness of abstracting, using techniques he had derived from his study of mathematics and science. He called this awareness, this goal of his system, "consciousness of abstracting". His system included the promotion of attitudes such as "I don't know; let's see," in order that we may better discover or reflect on its realities as revealed by modern science. Another technique involved becoming inwardly and outwardly quiet, an experience he termed, "silence on the objective levels".<ref>{{cite book | last=Korzybski | first=Alfred | title=Science and Sanity: An Introduction to Non-Aristotelian Systems and General Semantics | edition=6 | year=2023 | orig-year=1933 | page=34 | publisher=Institute of General Semantics | isbn=9781970164220}}</ref>

=="To be"==
Many devotees and critics of Korzybski reduced his rather complex system to a simple matter of what he said about the verb form "is" of the general verb "to be."<ref>Alfred Korzybski, ''Selections from Science and Sanity'', 2010.</ref> His system, however, is based primarily on such terminology as the different "orders of abstraction," and formulations such as "consciousness of abstracting." The contention that Korzybski ''opposed'' the use of the verb "to be" would be a profound exaggeration.

He thought that ''certain uses'' of the verb "to be", called the "is of identity" and the "is of [[E-Prime#Different functions of "to be"|predication]]", were faulty in structure, e.g., a statement such as, "Elizabeth is a fool" (said of a person named "Elizabeth" who has done something that we regard as foolish). In Korzybski's system, one's assessment of Elizabeth belongs to a higher order of abstraction than Elizabeth herself. Korzybski's remedy was to ''deny'' identity; in this example, to be aware continually that "Elizabeth" is ''not'' what we ''call'' her. We find Elizabeth not in the verbal domain, the world of words, but the nonverbal domain (the two, he said, amount to different orders of abstraction). This was expressed by Korzybski's most famous premise, "[[Map–territory relation|the map is not the territory]]". Note that this premise uses the phrase "is not", a form of "to be"; this and many other examples show that he did not intend to abandon "to be" as such. In fact, he said explicitly<ref>{{cite journal | last=Korzybski | first=Alfred | title=The Role of Language in the Perceptual Process | journal=Alfred Korzybski Collected Writings 1920–1950 | year=1951 | page=698 | publisher=Institute of General Semantics}}</ref> that there were no structural problems with the verb "to be" when used as an [[E-prime#The different functions of 'to be'|auxiliary verb]] or when used to state existence or location. It was even acceptable at times to use the faulty forms of the verb "to be," as long as one was aware of their structural limitations.

==Anecdotes==
One day, Korzybski was giving a lecture to a group of students, and he interrupted the lesson suddenly in order to retrieve a packet of [[biscuit]]s, wrapped in white paper, from his briefcase. He muttered that he just had to eat something, and he asked the students on the seats in the front row if they would also like a biscuit. A few students took a biscuit. "Nice biscuit, don't you think," said Korzybski, while he took a second one. The students were chewing vigorously. Then he tore the white paper from the biscuits, in order to reveal the original packaging. On it was a big picture of a dog's head and the words "Dog Cookies." The students looked at the package, and were shocked. Two of them wanted to vomit, put their hands in front of their mouths, and ran out of the lecture hall to the toilet. "You see," Korzybski remarked, "I have just demonstrated that people don't just eat food, but also words, and that the taste of the former is often outdone by the taste of the latter."<ref>R. Diekstra, ''Haarlemmer Dagblad'', 1993, cited by L. Derks & J. Hollander, ''Essenties van NLP'' (Utrecht: Servire, 1996), p. 58.</ref>

[[William Burroughs]] went to a Korzybski workshop in the autumn of 1939. He was 25 years old, and paid $40. His fellow students—there were 38 in all—included young [[Samuel I. Hayakawa]] (later to become a [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] member of the [[United States Senate|U.S. Senate]]) and [[Wendell Johnson]] (founder of the [[Monster Study]]).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://nakedlunch.org/naked-lunch/space-time-travel/naked-lunch-and-chicago/seminal-semantics-antics/ |title=Naked Lunch @ 50 » Seminal Semantics Antics |access-date=December 21, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111007204146/http://nakedlunch.org/naked-lunch/space-time-travel/naked-lunch-and-chicago/seminal-semantics-antics/ |archive-date=October 7, 2011 }}</ref>

== Influence ==
Korzybski's work had a positive reception from a variety of persons in the 1940s and 1950s.<ref>{{cite web|title=Notable Individuals Influenced by General Semantics|url=http://www.generalsemantics.org/the-general-semantics-learning-center/overview-of-general-semantics/notable-individuals/|publisher=The Institute of General Semantics|access-date=September 3, 2012|archive-date=March 19, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140319195937/http://www.generalsemantics.org/the-general-semantics-learning-center/overview-of-general-semantics/notable-individuals/|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Robert A. Heinlein]] named a character after him in his 1940 short story "[[Blowups Happen]]". The science fiction writer [[A. E. van Vogt]] based his novel ''[[The World of Null-A]]'', published in 1948, on ideas from General Semantics.   On March 8, 1949,  fellow science-fiction author [[L. Ron Hubbard]] wrote to Heinlein referencing Korzybski as an influence on what would become [[Dianetics]]:
 
{{Blockquote|Well, you didn't specify in your book  what actual reformation took place in the society to make supermen. Got to thinking about it other day. The system is [[Excalibur (L. Ron Hubbard)|Excalibur]]. It makes [[The World of Null-A|nul A's]].<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://tonyortega.org/2014/11/08/the-heinlein-letters-what-l-ron-hubbards-close-friends-really-thought-of-him/ | title=The Heinlein Letters: What L. Ron Hubbard's close friends really thought of him &#124; the Underground Bunker }}</ref> }}

Korzybski's ideas influenced philosopher [[Alan Watts]] and physicist [[Fritjof Capra]] who used his phrase "the map is not the territory" in lectures and writings [https://openlibrary.org/books/OL25151915M/The_tao_of_physics "The Tao of Physics", 35th Anniversary Edition]. Writer [[Robert Anton Wilson]] was also deeply influenced by Korzybski's ideas.

The third edition of ''Science and Sanity'' states that in [[World War II]] the [[United States Army]] used Korzybski's system to treat [[Combat stress reaction|battle fatigue]] in Europe, under the supervision of Dr. [[Douglas Kelley|Douglas M. Kelley]],<ref>{{cite book | last=Korzybski | first=Alfred | title=Science and Sanity: An Introduction to Non-Aristotelian Systems and General Semantics | edition=6 | year=2023 | orig-year=1933 | page=liii | publisher=Institute of General Semantics | isbn=9781970164220}}</ref> who went on to become the psychiatrist in charge of the Nazi war criminals at [[Nuremberg trials|Nuremberg]].

Some of the General Semantics tradition was continued by [[Samuel I. Hayakawa]].

== Publications ==
* {{cite book|year=1921|title=Manhood of Humanity: The Science and Art of Human Engineering|publisher=E.P. Dutton|location=New York|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/25457/25457-0.txt}}
* ''[[Science and Sanity]]: An Introduction to Non-Aristotelian Systems and General Semantics''. Lancaster, Pennsylvania: Science Press Printing Co. 1933.

==See also==
{{div col}}
* {{annotated link|Alfred Korzybski Memorial Lecture}}
* {{annotated link|Concept and object}}
* {{annotated link|E-Prime}}
* {{annotated link|Robert Pula}}
* {{annotated link|Structural differential}}
{{div col end}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Kodish, Bruce. 2011. ''Korzybski: A Biography''. Pasadena, CA: Extensional Publishing. {{ISBN|978-0-9700664-0-4}} softcover, 978-09700664-28 hardcover.
* Kodish, Bruce and Susan Presby Kodish. 2011. ''Drive Yourself Sane: Using the Uncommon Sense of General Semantics, Third Edition''. Pasadena, CA: Extensional Publishing. {{ISBN|978-0-9700664-1-1}}
* Alfred Korzybski, [https://web.archive.org/web/20110811091339/http://www.generalsemantics.org/store/all-books/57-manhood-of-humanity.html ''Manhood of Humanity''], foreword by Edward Kasner, notes by [[M. Kendig]], Institute of General Semantics, 1950, hardcover, 2nd edition, 391 pages, {{ISBN|0-937298-00-X}}. ([https://archive.org/details/manhoodofhumanit00korziala Copy of the first edition].)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110811061133/http://www.generalsemantics.org/store/all-books/56-science-and-sanity-an-introduction-to-non-aristotelian-systems-and-general-semantics.html ''Science and Sanity: An Introduction to Non-Aristotelian Systems and General Semantics''], Alfred Korzybski, preface by [[Robert P. Pula]], Institute of General Semantics, 1994, hardcover, 5th edition, {{ISBN|0-937298-01-8}}. ([http://esgs.free.fr/uk/art/sands.htm Full text online].)
* Alfred Korzybski, [https://web.archive.org/web/20171210202807/http://www.generalsemantics.org/store/all-books/58-alfred-korzybski-collected-writings-1920-1950.html ''Collected Writings 1920-1950''], Institute of General Semantics, 1990, hardcover, {{ISBN|0-685-40616-4}}
* Montagu, M. F. A. (1953). Time-binding and the concept of culture.  ''The Scientific Monthly'', Vol. 77, No. 3 (Sep., 1953), pp.&nbsp;148–155.
* Murray, E. (1950). In memoriam: Alfred H. Korzybski.  ''Sociometry'', Vol. 13, No. 1 (Feb., 1950), pp.&nbsp;76–77.
*{{cite journal | last=Read | first=Charlotte | title=Alfred Korzybski: His contributions and their historical development | journal=[[The Polish Review]] | publisher=University of Illinois Press | volume=13 | issue=2 | year=1968 | issn=0032-2970 | jstor=25776770 | pages=5–13 | url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/25776770 | access-date=2025-01-01}}
*{{cite journal | last=Rapoport | first=Anatol | title=ALFRED KORZYBSKI JULY 3, 1879 – MARCH 1, 1950 BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY | journal=ETC: A Review of General Semantics | publisher=Institute of General Semantics | volume=74 | issue=1/2 | year=2017 | issn=0014-164X | jstor=48617411 | pages=86–92 | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/48617411 | access-date=2025-01-09}}
*{{cite journal | last=Postman | first=Neil | title=Alfred Korzybski | journal=ETC: A Review of General Semantics | publisher=Institute of General Semantics | volume=60 | issue=4 | year=2003 | issn=0014-164X | jstor=42578329 | pages=354–361 | url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/42578329 | access-date=2025-01-09}}
*{{cite journal | last=Kodish | first=Bruce I. | title=Young Alfred Korzybski | journal=ETC: A Review of General Semantics | publisher=Institute of General Semantics | volume=74 | issue=3/4 | year=2017 | issn=0014-164X | jstor=48617467 | pages=536–554 | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/48617467 | access-date=2025-01-09}}

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
* {{Gutenberg author | id=31349| name=Alfred Korzybski}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Alfred Korzybski}}
* [http://www.gestalt.org/alfred.htm Alfred Korzybski and Gestalt Therapy Website]
* [http://www.ags.org.au Australian General Semantics Society]
* [http://www.generalsemantics.org Institute of General Semantics]
* [https://findingaids.library.columbia.edu/ead/nnc-rb/ldpd_4078999 Finding aid to Alfred Korzybski papers at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library.]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uth0rhjmuW4 YouTube video: Alfred Korzybski - The World Is NOT an Illusion]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Korzybski, Alfred}}
[[Category:1879 births]]
[[Category:1950 deaths]]
[[Category:Writers from Warsaw]]
[[Category:Clan Abdank]]
[[Category:Polish emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:Polish engineers]]
[[Category:20th-century Polish philosophers]]
[[Category:Polish mathematicians]]
[[Category:Linguists from Poland]]
[[Category:General semantics]]
[[Category:People from Lakeville, Connecticut]]