I reference this discipline a lot in this blog because it is based on non-Aristotelian logic–vital to the survival of the individual and humanity as a whole in this day and age. According to the famous writer, A.E. Van Vogt, “The essential idea of General Semantics is that meaning can only be comprehended when one has made allowances for the nervous and perception system-that of a human being-through which it is filtered. Because of the limitations of his nervous system, Man can only see part of truth, never the whole of it. In describing the limitation, Korzybski coined the term “ladder of abstraction.” Abstraction, as he used it, did not have a lofty or symbolical thought connotation. It meant, “to abstract from”, that is, to take from something a part of the whole. His assumption: in observing a process of nature, one can only abstract-i.e. perceive-a portion of it.” Here is an introduction and a series of YouTube videos that discuss this discipline in depth. It is well worth the time to watch them all, and the world owes a great debt to its author, Count Alfred Korzybski.
Because the “Embed” function is not working in this Vivaldi word processor, here is the URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aez6PV74kSg&feature=share&list=PLFScQETUuI9_LEEXoAri4T8DI1FNA4Y7y
‘Dream of Arcadia’ by Thomas Cole 1850, It is my dream too.
