Alfred Vladislavovich Habdank Skarbek Korzybski (1879–1950) was a Polish-American philosopher of language. He is the forefather of general semantics, a philosophical movement seeking to develop public awareness of the conventional basis of the relationships between words and objects to improve the clarity of thought and communication. Korzybski was the founder and director of Institute of General Semantics in Chicago.
Born in Warsaw, Poland, to an aristocratic and wealthy family, Korzybski studied chemical engineering at the Polytechnic Institute in Warsaw. The Russian army sent him on a military undertaking to North America during World War I. Following the Russian Revolution and civil war in 1917, he remained in the United States, becoming a citizen in 1940.
Korzybski is best known as the originator of general semantics and semiotics, a system of linguistic philosophy concerned with the study of language as a representation of reality. He sought to create a “General Semantics” for all modes of communication to help expand people’s ability to analyze the meanings and uses of words. Korzybski’s goal was to promote mutual understanding between individuals and the accurate transmission of ideas from one generation to another.
Korzybski’s major work on general semantics is Science and Sanity: An Introduction to Non-Aristotelian Systems and General Semantics (1933.) In this tome, Korzybski argued for the development of a visual semantic that could apply equally to science, philosophy, mathematics, psychology, and physiology. He also proposed a formal, non-Aristotelian logic as an iconic calculus.
Korzybski also wrote Manhood of Humanity: The Science and Art of Human Engineering (1921.) In this work, Korzybski argued about the nature of physiological development required by humankind to overcome the conflicts that led to war.
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Alfred Korzybski
Two important characteristics of maps should be noticed. A map is not the territory it represents, but, if correct, it has a similar structure to the territory, which accounts for its usefulness
—Alfred Korzybski
Topics: Usefullness
God may forgive your sins, but your nervous system won’t.
—Alfred Korzybski
Topics: Integrity, Friendship, Conscience, Forgiveness
There are two ways to slide easily through life: to believe everything or to doubt everything. Both ways save us from thinking.
—Alfred Korzybski
The map is not the territory.
—Alfred Korzybski
Topics: Tourism, Travel
It is amusing to discover, in the twentieth century, that the quarrels between two lovers, two mathematicians, two nations, two economic systems, usually assumed insoluble in a finite period should exhibit one mechanism, the semantic mechanism of identification—the discovery of which makes universal agreement possible, in mathematics and in life.
—Alfred Korzybski
Topics: Mathematics
To regard human beings as tools — as instruments — for the use of other human beings is not only unscientific but it is repugnant, stupid and short sighted. Tools are made by man but have not the autonomy of their maker — they have not man’s time-binding capacity for initiation, for self-direction, and self-improvement.
—Alfred Korzybski
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
Isaac Bashevis Singer Polish-born American Children’s Books Writer
Arthur Rubinstein American Pianist
Samuel Goldwyn Polish-born American Film Producer
Francine du Plessix Gray American Writer, Literary Critic
Marie Curie Polish-born French Physicist
Charles Sanders Peirce American Philosopher
Roger Bacon English Philosopher
Francis Bacon English Philosopher
Pythagoras Greek Philosopher
Xenocrates Greek Philosopher, Scientist