DOCSLIB.ORG

Module 6 HTML

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Module 6 HTML Module Map: Review and Reflection In this final week of the course, we will introduce only one new item related to General Semantics - an explanation of extensional orientation. But we have five short articles we think provide a nice wrap-up to review and reinforce some of the broader aspects and applications of General Semantics. First, a reflection on the role that GS played in the lives and works of the "Grand Master" science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein, and Albert Ellis, father of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT). Then we have an excerpt of one of the last articles written by Aldous Huxley, from the November 1963 issue of Playboy Magazine in which he extols the benefit of General Semantics. Steve's essay on stereotypes ties together the physics insights of Niels Bohr with what we currently know about brain science. Mary's conclusion of her Awareness and Action e-textbook offers some very good tips to students. Wendell Johnson's "After You've Studied General Semantics" concludes the readings with advice that's just as relevant today as it was in 1945. Following the readings, we have two pages of resources - Steve's map of Korzybski's General Semantics, and a list of course materials that can be Artwork by Alice Webb Art downloaded or accessed online. Finally, on Wednesday, 19 February, we will post individual videos to conclude the presentation of course materials. Your role in this final week will be to participate in a special Discussion and submit one last 250-word essay. No time for goodbyes yet - we have a week of work awaiting. Please note: Canvas Network has requested that you complete an end-of-course survey. You can complete this at any time during the week. Extensional Orientation The final GS formulation to cover in this course is one we've mentioned and referenced several times during the past five weeks. However, we haven't really defined or explained it. Perhaps that's because, without the previous readings and discussions and videos, a description of extensional orientation may not have made much sense. But since an extensional orientation can be considered as the practical objective of General Semantics in action and practice, let's briefly explain the differences between extensional and intensional. 2/18/14, 10:38 PM 1 of 22 Intensional and Extensional The first thing to understand is that you will not find these terms in a dictionary. Alfred Korzybski used these two words, spelled with an 's' in the middle instead of a 't', to denote a continuum of attitude, behavior, or orientation. Intensional orientations are based on verbal definitions, associations, etc., largely disregarding observations as if they would involve a "principle" of "talk first and never mind the life facts." Extensional orientations are based on ordering observations, investigations, etc., first and the verbalization next in importance. — Alfred Korzybski Similar to the table we used to illustrate the differences regarding Consciousness (or Awareness) of Abstracting- Evaluating, we can consider intensional and extensional orientations as exhibiting the following characteristics in terms of degrees on a continuum. Relies primarily on verbal definitions. Gives primacy to observed or reported facts. Uncritically accepts validity of labels, categories, Focuses on individuals or specific items, challenges classifications, properties. Prone to 'animalistic' appropriateness of group labels. Recognizes evaluations (hardening of the categories and differences among similarities, similarities among dogmatism); allness. differences; non-allness. Exhibits signal reactions: immediate, reflexive, Exhibits symbol reactions: delayed, considered, conditioned, "hot button" responses. attentive responses. Lacks consciousness or awareness of abstracting; Conscious or aware of abstracting (non-identity). confuses or reverses the order of abstracting. Uses the extensional devices of indexing and dating. (Identification) Prone to either/or, two-valued evaluations. Recognizes multi-valued potential for evaluations. Recognizes inferences as inferences, sets a high Prone to confuse inferences as facts. standard for 'facts.' 2/18/14, 10:38 PM 2 of 22 Recognizes the non-elementalistic nature of items or Prone to elementalistic evaluating, presuming that events that may be separated verbally but cannot be different words mean that their different referents separated in the non-verbal 'reality'; uses extensional exist in isolation, separation. device of the hyphen. Uses conditional language that reflects humble Uses absolutistic, unconditional, and all-presuming awareness of the tentative, uncertain, and limited language that presents false-to-fact assurance and nature of human knowledge; uses the extensional certainty. device of etc. In Drive Yourself Sane: Using the Uncommon Sense of General-Semantics, Susan and Bruce Kodish explain: When we orient ourselves by verbal definitions, when we prefer preserving our maps (even maps without territories) to checking them out against 'facts,' when we fail to become aware of our assumptions and inferences and to test them out when possible, when we identify different levels of abstracting, we behave intensionally. When we orient ourselves towards 'facts,' when we check our maps against possible territories, when we clarify and test our inferences and assumptions, when we don't identify different orders of abstracting, we behave extensionally. Intensional and extensional orientations also exist on a continuum. We know of no one who exhibits a purely extensional orientation. Unfortunately, abundant examples of people near the other end of the continuum exist. Some of them are confined to institutions. Some of them speak, write books, appear on radio and television and run institutions. Most of us appear somewhere in between. (p. 126) Heinlein and Ellis: Converging Competencies by Steve Stockdale Published in ETC: A Review of General Semantics Volume 64 No. 4, October 2007 On July 7, 2007, the Heinlein Centennial was held in Kansas City to celebrate what would have been the 100th birthday of acclaimed “Grand Master” science fiction author Robert A. Heinlein. Heinlein is generally acknowledged as one of the four great American science fiction writers, along with Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, and Arthur C. Clarke. Among his most notable books are Starship Troopers, Stranger in a Strange Land, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, and Time Enough for Love. 2/18/14, 10:38 PM 3 of 22 On July 24, 2007, Dr. Albert Ellis died at age 93 in New York City. His front-page obituary in the New York Times referred to him as “one of the most influential and provocative figures in modern psychology.” He originated the field of psychotherapy known as Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) and authored more than 70 books, including Overcoming Procrastination, How to Live With a Neurotic, A Guide to Rational Living, and How to Stubbornly Refuse to Make Yourself Miserable About Anything — Yes, Anything. These two accomplished and celebrated men would seem to have little in common — one a Midwesterner, Naval Academy graduate, futurist, with an almost cult-like following of fans; the other a New Yorker who was referred to as “the Lenny Bruce of psychotherapy,” known for his blue language and results-oriented approach to talk therapy. And yet Robert Heinlein and Albert Ellis shared a common perspective, or point of view, that developed from the same source — Alfred Korzybski and general semantics. Heinlein came to general semantics through Stuart Chase’s The Tyranny of Words (1938) and attended two seminars with Korzybski in 1939 and 1940. In a speech in 1941, Heinlein made the seemingly outlandish assertion that Korzybski was “at least as great a man as Einstein” based on his “monumental piece of work,” Science and Sanity. Ellis, so far as I know, never met Korzybski but credited him (and general semantics) as a major influence in his development of REBT, using descriptors such as brilliant, masterpiece, and pioneer. I attended the Heinlein Centennial in Kansas City. One of the panel sessions I attended was on “The Competent Man.” I learned this was a theme of Heinlein’s that recurred throughout his novels. An oft-repeated quote from Heinlein’s novel Time Enough for Love concerns competency as a general trait: A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects. I had the privilege to hear Dr. Ellis speak on one memorable occasion a few years ago. In recalling that talk and in reviewing several of his writings, it seems to me that “competency” was also a recurring theme in his work, specifically as it related to cognitive competency. As the lives and contributions of these two great men — Robert A. Heinlein and Dr. Albert Ellis, just seven years apart in age — shared the news pages in the same recent month, we choose to devote this special section in this issue of ETC to them. The best years of your life are the ones in which you decide your problems are your own. You do not blame 2/18/14, 10:38 PM 4 of 22 them on your mother, the ecology, or the president. You realize that you control your own destiny. — Albert Ellis I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do. — Robert A. Heinlein What We Could Become I have read only enough of Heinlein’s writings to have a minimally-informed appreciation of his work. But I know something about the field of general semantics, which certainly influenced Heinlein’s point of view during his early years as a writer and is unmistakably reflected in character and plot development throughout his work.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Necra4rst Rrcumr ED 023 652 TE 000 643 Unternational Society for Generalsemantics Bibliograpyl San Francisco Stateconcalif
    necra4rsT RrCuMr ED 023 652 TE 000 643 Unternational Society for GeneralSemantics Bibliograpyl San Francisco StateConCalif,. Pub Date (683 Note -12p. EDRS Pnce MF -$0 25 HC -S070 Descriptors -*AnnotatedEittblio9raphies, *BibliograpNes, 'English Instruction.*Language,Linguistics, Phonograph Records. *Seirtantics, TapeRecordin9s This annotated bibliography lists18 primary books on general semanticsand 52 books, pamphlets. and recordings onrelated sublects. all of which can beordered from the Society. (DL) a A 4 II I' * a I I ID U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION &WELFARE OFFICE OF EDUCATION THIS DOCUt4r"T HAS BEEN REPRODUCED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROM THE salonipn. - PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIGINATING IT,POINTS OF VIEW OR civilivaTESTATED DO NOT OPINIONS NECESSARILY REPRESENTOFFICIAL OFFICE OF -*POSITION OR POLICY. EDUCATION NOINIcaNatt VANGumI IA tIT °"qiv:"Jill Ott Ll. t IMPL jiasmailara 434"Thlogni _AGING Iff Brun( \\\ tTitIn4.1 Mai ow, !:44, kv 14POpart \Si QUINE 4 Th. )441,41 14. ---------------- PRIMARY BOOKS ON GENERAL SEMANTICS 01 EXPLORATIONS IN AWARENESS by J. Samuel Bois How to go about interpreting situations,comments, happenings, and theories toun- derstand what is going on and act effectively. Members of ISGS $3.00 Non-members $3.95 02 THE ART OF AWARENESS by J. Samuel Bois This new general semantics textwas written for undergraduate and graduatecourses in any discipline dealing with human behavior.By the author of the widely-read EXPLORATIONS IN AWARENESS, it examinesthe development of general semantics as a system for synthesizing ongoing innovations inthinking and research. Members of ISGS $6.75 Non-members $6.75 03 SEMANTICS AND COMMUNICATION by JohnC. Condon, Jr. A short text introducing principlesof general semantics including thefunctions of language in the communicationprocess.
    [Show full text]
  • Alfred Korzybski's Thought and the Question of The
    POLISH POLITICAL SCIENCE VOL XXXVI 2007 PL ISSN 0208-7375 ALFRED KORZYBSKI’S THOUGHT AND THE QUESTION OF THE SEARCH FOR TRUTH IN JOURNALIST’S WORK by Wiesław Wacławczyk In 1933, twelve years aer his Manhood and Humanity came out, Alfred Korzyb- ski (1879-1950), a Polish aristocrat who arrived in the United States during World War I, published his most famous book called Science and Sanity . A former Russian intelligence o!cer, earlier trained as a chemical engineer at the Polytechnic Institute in Warsaw, Korzybski had a broad-ranging intellectual background, which he employed to work out his theory of general semantics. It is beyond doubt that the theory under discussion can help journalists depict the reality of the world in its multidimensional complexity – and thus make their performance more profes- sional. In Science and Sanity Korzybski wrote: “As words are not the objects which they represent, structure, and structure alone , becomes the only link which connects our verbal processes with empirical data. To achieve adjustment and sanity and the conditions which follow from them, we must study structural characteristic of this world !rst , and, then only, build languages of similar structure, instead of habitually ascribing to the world the primitive structure of our language. If these arguments are conducted in a language of wrong and unnatural structure, our doctrines and institutions must re"ect that linguistic structure and so become unnatural, and inevitably lead to disasters.” 1 1 A. Korzybski, Science and Sanity: An Introduction to Non-Aristotelian Systems and Gen- eral Semantics , European Society for General Semantics, p.
    [Show full text]
  • General Semantics Bulletin
    General Semantics Bulletin Yearbook of the Institute of General Semantics Number 71, Membership Year 2004 Fort Worth, TX Honorary Trustees, 1940 Executive Director APPOINTED BY ALFRED KORZYBSKI Steve Stockdale Gaston Bachelard Maxim Bing Assistant Executive Director Abraham A. Brill Jennifer Carmack W. Burridge Ross McC. Chapman, George E. Coghill Arthur Stone Dewing Board of Trustees Franklin C. Ebaugh Officers P. H. Esser President, Andrea Johnson David Fairchild Vice President, Irene S. Ross Mayper Clarence B. Farrar Treasurer, Lynn Schuldt William Healy Lancelot Hogben Secretary, Susan Presby Kodish Earnest A. Hooten Recording Secretary, Robert R. Potter Smith Ely Jelliffe Edward Kasner Board Members Cassius J. Keyser George J. Barenholtz Nolan D. C. Lewis Sanford I. Berman Ralph S. Lillie Laura Bertone Bronislaw Malinowski Walter W. Davis Raymond W. McNealy Milton Dawes Adolf Meyer Allen Flagg Winfred Overholser James Douglas French Stewart Paton Raymond Pearl Gregg Hoffmann William F. Petersen Bruce Kodish Roscoe Pound Susan Presby Kodish George S. Stevenson Martin Levinson M. Tramer Harry Maynard Walter L. Treadway Jeffrey A. Mordkowitz Richard Weil, Jr. Gerard I. Nierenberg George K. Zipf Frank Scardilli Honorary Trustees APPOINTED 1963 AND SINCE Robert Blake, Joseph Brewer, Douglas G. Campbell, Hadley Cantril, Stuart Carter Dodd, R. Buckminster Fuller, Henri Laborit, Abraham Maslow, Myres S. McDougall, Joost A. M. Meerloo, Russell Meyers, E. DeAlton Partridge, Allen Walker Read, J. Gordon Roberts, F. J. Roethlisberger, Jesse H. Shera, Alvin M. Weinberg © Institute of General Semantics The Scientific Philosophy of General Semantics General Semantics (GS) qualifies as an unusual, tough- to-‘pin down’, interdisciplinary field. “Is it a science or a philosophy?” Perhaps GS may best be seen as neither ‘science’ nor ‘philosophy’ but rather as both/and––a scientific philosophy applicable moreover to the life concerns of ‘the man and woman in the street’.
    [Show full text]
  • When the Map Becomes the Territory: Korzybski and Cyberculture
    When the Map Becomes the Territory: Korzybski and Cyberculture Thierry Bardini Département de Communication Université de Montréal Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to: Thierry Bardini Département de Communication Université de Montréal C.P. 6128, Succursale Centre-ville Montréal QC H3C 3J7 Canada Email: [email protected] 2 Abstract: I examine in this paper the direct and indirect influences that Alfred Korzybski had on contemporary cyberculture. I consider two different but sometimes intertwined lines of thought, genres and/or disciplines: (1) science-fiction, and (2) communication and/or media studies. In the first case, I consider Korzybski’s direct influence on William Burroughs and Alfred van Vogt and thus his indirect influence on Philip K. Dick (PKD) and the 1980s genre of cyberpunk literature. In the second case, I show how Korzybski’s direct influence on Gregory Bateson, among other cyberneticians of the first hour (McCullogh and Northrop), and Neil Postman, contributed in shaping one of the leading modes of thought in this domain, i.e. “media ecology.” Altogether, I argue that Korzybski’s legacy in contemporary culture greatly exceeds the “map is not the territory” slogan: instead, through such notions as “the unbearable aporias of being”, the power of the conjunction and the relation between language and power (“control”), he helped shape today’s modes of thought. 3 Introduction This paper is about maps and territories, but about special kinds of maps and territories; digital (and not virtual) maps and territories. So I start with a serious question: say at the sattelite resolution of Google maps, for instance, doesn’t the map look like the territory? And if the territory itself is digital (as in cyberspace), isn’t the map the territory? In order to give some elements of answer to these questions I examine here the direct and indirect influences Alfred Korzybski had on contemporary cyberculture.
    [Show full text]
  • University Microfilms, a XEROX Company , Ann Arbor, M Ichigan
    72 - 4-581 MILLER, Wesley Carrol, 1926- EDUCATION AND THE EMERGING HUMANIST MOVEMENT. The Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1971 Philosophy University Microfilms, A XEROX Company , Ann Arbor, Michigan EDUCATION AND THE EMERGING HUMANIST MOVEMENT DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Wesley Carrol Miller, B.S., M.A, ***** The Ohio State University 1971 Approved by n / /I l Adviser Faculty of Special Services PLEASE NOTE: Some Pages have in d istin c t p rin t. Filmed as received. UNIVERSITY MICROFILMS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS To Professor Joseph Quaranta for picking me up when I was really down. To Professor Loren Tomlinson for sticking with me since 1958. To Professors Paul Klohr and Alexander Frazier for service on my Dissertation Committee. To my son and daughter, Scott and Kathy, whose lives represent in the concrete what this dissertation presents in the abstract. To me, for the Perversity to Be. ii VITA I1 August 3, 1926 ......... Born - Grand Rapids, Michigan 1951 ..................... B.S., Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, Michigan 1951 - 1952 . .......... Teacher, Kent County, Michigan Schools 1952 - 1958 ........... Salesman, Bissell Sweeper Company and Baby Mine Co., New York and Columbus 1958 - 1968 ........... Teacher, Upper Arlington Schools, Columbus, Ohio 1969 - 1971 ........... Teaching Associate, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio PUBLICATIONS "Sixth Grade Pupils Invent Number System," Upper Arlington News, November 24, 1961, p. 8. Time for Decision, Columbus, Ohio: Upper Arlington Educa- tion Association, 1964. "People Science Activities for Elementary School," Washing­ ton , D.C .: National Science Teachers Association Con­ vention Reports, 1970, p.
    [Show full text]
  • A Simple Definition of General Semantics Ben Hauck *
    A SIMPLE DEFINITION OF GENERAL SEMANTICS BEN HAUCK * [A] number of isolated facts does not produce a science any more than a heap of bricks produces a house. The isolated facts must be put in order and brought into mutual structural relations in the form of some theory. Then, only, do we have a science, something to start from, to analyze, ponder on, criticize, and improve. – Alfred Korzybski Science & Sanity: An Introduction to Non-Aristotelian Systems and General Semantics1 The term, ‘semantic reaction’ will be used as covering both semantic reflexes and states. In the present work, we are interested in [semantic reactions], from a psychophysiological, theoretical and experimental point of view, which include the corresponding states. – Alfred Korzybski Science & Sanity: An Introduction to Non-Aristotelian Systems and General Semantics2 OR A NUMBER OF DECADES and perhaps for all of its life, general semantics has Fsuffered from an identity crisis. People have long had difficulty defining the term general semantics for others. Of those people who have settled on definitions, many of their definitions are too vague, too general, or just plain awkward. The bulk of these definitions is of the awkward sort, more like descriptions than definitions3, leading to a hazy image of general semantics and a difficulty in categorizing it in the grand scheme of fields. Because of awkward definitions, people learning of general semantics for the first time can’t relate to it, so they don’t become interested in it. *Ben Hauck webmasters the websites for the Institute of General Semantics and the New York Soci- ety for General Semantics.
    [Show full text]
  • 2006 Heinlein Awards to Be Given to Williamson and Bear in Anaheim At
    2006 Heinlein Awards To Be Given to Williamson and Bear In Anaheim at World Con The principal mailing address of The Heinlein Society, a non-profit charitable corporation, is PO Box 1254, Venice, CA USA 90294-1254 JulyContents 2006 2006 Heinlein Awards ......Pages 1 and 3 Secretaryʼs Report and Annual Notice Election of Directors.........Pages 2 and 3 Inaugural Heinlein Prize Awarded. .................................................Pages 4 to 9 Notice of Bylaw Amendment................ ...........................................................Page 10 Owenby Obituary..................... Page 10 New Directors Appointed......Page 11 Jack Williamson Greg Bear Committee Reports....Pages 12 to 19 Jack Williamson and Greg admired Heinlein as a writer and a Bear, two legendary authors of man, but also because he was a val- Book Reviews....Pages 20. 21 and 23 speculative fiction, have been ued friend,” said Williamson, wide- Membership Application........Page 22 named recipients of the 2006 ly recognized as the dean of sci- Robert A. Heinlein Award for their ence fiction. The author of dozens A “few small things”................Page 24 overall body of work. of novels and winner of both the The award, administered by the Nebula and Hugo Awards, in 1976 We Continue To Need Heinlein Society, will be presented Williamson was named a Damon A Newsletter Editor formally by Jerry Pournelle, a past Knight Memorial Grand Master by A successful applicant will need to be able to attend, on-line, one two-hour recipient, director of the Society SFWA — only the second author monthly board business meeting and initi- and a member of the Advisory so honored after Heinlein in 1975. ate articles of interest to membership, by Board for the Heinlein Award, at Williamson’s most recent novel is encouraging Society officers and members the World Science Fiction Conven- the world-hopping adventure The to prepare them, and by writing them him tion in Los Angeles, California, on Stonehenge Gate.
    [Show full text]
  • General Semantics And... by Martin H. Levinson
    GENERAL SEMANTICS AND . MARTIN H. LEVINSON eneral semantics, a process-oriented, problem-solving system, helps G individuals better evaluate and understand the world and therefore make more intelligent decisions. It was originally formulated by Alfred Korzybski, a Polish engineer and intellectual who came to the United States during World War I. Since then, many thinkers, educators, therapists, and other professionals have contributed to the system and general semantics ideas and formulations have been taught in many college courses throughout the world. From the beginning, Korzybski and his students considered general semantics a pragmatic discipline, to be used by individuals, groups, and organizations to solve problems. The fi rst two popular books on the sub- ject, The Tyranny of Words (1938) by Stuart Chase and Language in Action (1941) by S. I. Hayakawa (later titled Language in Thought and Action) re- fl ected the practical approach as each author used general semantics to ex- amine and assess the infl uence of language on thought and behavior. Sub- sequent individuals have employed general semantics to analyze and solve problems in a wide variety of fi elds, including the areas of education, com- munication, negotiation, management, social science, journalism, and per- sonal adjustment. Over the years, numerous articles on the benefi ts of general semantics have appeared in the General Semantics Bulletin and ETC: A Review of Gen- eral Semantics and more than 150 doctoral- and master’s-degree theses have demonstrated its effi cacy. As the following quotations show, general semantics is a highly useful methodology with a wide range of applicability in diverse areas of human endeavor.
    [Show full text]
  • The A. Heinlein Centennial July 5 to 8, 2007
    The A. Heinlein Centennial July 5 to 8, 2007 he Centennial celebration of Robert A Heinlein's birth took place in Kansas City over the period from Thursday July 5 to Sunday July 8, 2007, attended by about 750 members of the Hcinlein community- TThe Centennial celebration was mounted by an ad hoc committee incorporated as Ileirdcin Centennial, Inc It was our goal to bring together as many different facets of the Heinlein community In one place as could be managed, and we are happy to report a resounding success. I he response of both the commercial and the government space community were very gratifying — and quite unlooked for. The gala itself, preceded by a buffet dinner, took place on Ileinlcm's hundredth birthday, which he had thoughtfully scheduled to fall on Saturday in his centennial year — and as Peter Scott emarked "Heinlein also had the foresight to schedule his centenary before the economy went in Ihe ci appcr " 1 hat last is perhaps more than a throw-away joke in the opening years of the Greater Depression; you will find throughout the comments by organizers and attendees oblique references to financial crises and a fantastic degree of sabotage by the organisation that should have been doing the Centennial but was not, Sketches of fuller tellings of the story have been archived on the Heinlein Nexus Forum but would overrun the space available in the JOURNAL, The remembrances of the participants are an embarrns tic ridiesscs. THE PROGRAM COMMENTS BY ORGANIZERS AND ATTENDEES: TllURSJMYjUIYS arly in 2009, Founding organizer of the Centennial, James O Ciffoid, announced on the newly established Heinlein Noon - 6:00 PM ENexus Forum that the Centennial's sponsoring organisa- SHR A Registration tion, Ileinlcin Centennial, Inc , was winding up its affairs.
    [Show full text]
  • General Semantics Author(S): David Lewis Source: Synthese, Vol
    General Semantics Author(s): David Lewis Source: Synthese, Vol. 22, No. 1/2, Semantics of Natural Language, II (Dec., 1970), pp. 18-67 Published by: Springer Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20114749 . Accessed: 09/12/2014 13:21 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Springer is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Synthese. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 171.66.240.83 on Tue, 9 Dec 2014 13:21:40 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions DAVID LEWIS GENERAL SEMANTICS I. INTRODUCTION On the hypothesis that all natural or artificial languages of interest to us can be given transformational grammars of a certain not-very-special sort, it becomes possible to give very simple general answers to the questions: (1) What sort of thing is a meaning? (2) What is the form of the semantic rules whereby meanings of compounds are built up from the meanings of their consti tuent parts? It is not my plan to make any strong empirical claim about language. To the contrary: I want to propose a convenient format for semantics general enough to work for a great variety of logically possible languages.
    [Show full text]
  • Semantic Shift and the Link Between Words and Culture
    SEMANTIC SHIFT AND THE LINK BETWEEN WORDS AND CULTURE Amber Dunai, B. A. Thesis Prepared for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS December 2008 APPROVED: Sadaf Munshi, Committee Chair Shobhana Chelliah, Committee Member Haj Ross, Committee Member Brenda Sims, Chair of the Department of Linguistics and Technical Communication Sandra L. Terrell, Dean of the Robert B. Toulouse School of Graduate Studies Dunai, Amber. Semantic Shift and the Link between Words and Culture. Master of Arts (Linguistics), December 2008, 85 pp., 2 figures, works cited, 85 titles. This thesis is concerned with the correlation between cultural values and the semantic content of words over time; toward this purpose, the research focuses on Judeo-Christian religious terminology in the English language. The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis is of central interest to this study, and the implications of the hypothesis, including a bidirectional interpretation allowing for both the influence of language on worldview and culture on language, is of great relevance to the research findings and conclusions. The paper focuses on the etymology and sources of religious terminology in the English language, the prominent category of terms with both religious and secular applications attained through semantic shift, and the role of religious words as English taboo. The research findings imply that a bidirectional understanding of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis is the correct one. This is achieved both through analysis of historical events and linguistic development which emphasize the speaker’s role in language development and through the study of societal values that are reinforced through linguistic practices, namely taboo. Copyright 2008 by Amber Dunai ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................................iv Chapters 1.
    [Show full text]
  • General Semantics of Alfred Korzybski
    The following document is an archived chapter from a previous edition of A First Look at Communication Theory by Em Griffin, the leading college text in the field of communication theory (all editions published by McGraw-Hill). The theory is no longer covered in a full chapter of the current edition. This document is posted on the resource website for the text www.afirstlook.com All material is copyright © Em Griffin or used by permission of the copyright holder (Note that some cartoons reproduced in the textbook could not be included in the archived documents because copyright permission does not extend to online use.) 5 General Semantics of Alfred Korzybski What do these four men have in common? Count Alfred Korzybski-a Polish swordsman of note who survived several duels. Trained as a mathematician, he served on the Russian intelligence staff during World War I and then defected to the United States where he studied mental health. Although he wasn’t on the faculty at the University of Chicago, he lived near the campus and gave lectures to students. Wendell Johnson-a severe stutterer at a time when therapists thought that the disorder arose from speech directed by the wrong hemisphere of the brain. He wore a cast on his right arm for two years in an attempt to become left- handed and right-talking. He later headed the Speech Clinic at the University of Iowa. S. I. Hayakawa-as acting president of San Francisco State University, he confronted a student mob that was trying to shut down the school.
    [Show full text]