8/13/2019 Alfred Korzybski Brief Biography

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Alfred Korzybski Brief Biography

Alfred Korzybski was born on July 3, 1879 in Warsaw, Poland, and died on March 1,

19!, in "ake#ille, $onnec%icu%, &'A( )e is *robably bes%+reebered for de#elo*in-%he %heory of -eneral sean%ics(

.eneral 'ean%ics is an educa%ional disci*line crea%ed by Alfred Korzybski /1879019!

durin- %he years 1919 %o 1933( .eneral 'ean%ics is dis%inc% fro sean%ics, a differen%

sub2ec%( he nae %echnically refers %o %he s%udy of wha% Korzybski called 4sean%icreac%ions4, or reac%ions of %he whole huan or-anis in i%s en#ironen% %o soe e#en% 5

any e#en%, no% 2us% *ercei#in- a huan+ade sybol 5 in res*ec% of %ha% e#en%6s

eanin-( )owe#er, *eo*le os% coonly use %he nae %o ean %he *ar%icular sys%eof sean%ic reac%ions %ha% Korzybski called %he os% useful for huan sur#i#al(

Ad#oca%es of .eneral 'ean%ics #iew i% as a for of en%al hy-iene %ha% enables

*rac%i%ioners %o a#oid idea%ional %ra*s buil% in%o na%ural lan-ua-e and 4coon sense4

assu*%ions, %hereby enablin- *rac%i%ioners %o %hink ore clearly and effec%i#ely( .eneral'ean%ics %hus shares soe concerns wi%h *sycholo-y bu% is no% *recisely a %hera*eu%ic

sys%e, bein- in -eneral ore focused on enhancin- %he abili%ies of noral indi#iduals

%han curin- *a%holo-y(

Accordin- %o Alfred Korzybski hiself, %he cen%ral -oal of .eneral 'ean%ics is %ode#elo* in i%s *rac%i%ioners wha% he called 4consciousness of abs%rac%in-4, %ha% is an

awareness of %he a*%erri%ory dis%inc%ion and of how uch of reali%y is %hrown away by

%he lin-uis%ic and o%her re*resen%a%ions we use( .eneral 'ean%ics %eaches %ha% i% is no%sufficien% %o unders%and %his s*oradically and in%ellec%ually, bu% ra%her %ha% we achie#e full

sani%y only when consciousness of abs%rac%in- becoes cons%an% and a a%%er of refle(

Many .eneral 'ean%ics *rac%i%ioners #iew i%s %echniues as a kind of self+defense ki%

a-ains% ani*ula%i#e sean%ic dis%or%ions rou%inely *roul-a%ed by ad#er%isin-, *oli%ics,and reli-ion(

Philoso*hically, .eneral 'ean%ics is a for of a**lied conce*%ualis %ha% e*hasizes

%he de-ree %o which huan e*erience is fil%ered and edia%ed by con%in-en% fea%ures of

huan sensory or-ans, %he huan ner#ous sys%e, and huan lin-uis%ic cons%ruc%ions(

he os% i*or%an% *reise of .eneral 'ean%ics has been succinc%ly e*ressed as 4hea* is no% %he %erri%ory: %he word is no% %he %hin- defined(4 While Aris%o%le wro%e %ha% a

%rue defini%ion -i#es %he essence of %he %hin- defined /in .reekto ti n einai

, li%erally ;%hewha% i% was %o be