THINK
Cognitive Evaluation and Communication
General Semantics
The concepts and formulations of General Semantics provide the foundation of Cognitive Evaluation and Communication. No attempt will be made within this program to “teach” general semantics. Rather, we will use the process to expose the students to better ways of dealing with the effects of language.
For more information about general semantics you have several online choices. First, you can go to the web site of the Institute of General Semantics. www.time-binding.org. Another site dedicated to the study of General Semantics is called the New York Society for General Semantics, www.nysgs.org.
Author and lecturer Milton Dawes has compiled a large collection of General Semantic lessons. In addition, Milton has written many articles and papers regarding the use of General Semantics in our personal lives. See it all on www.miltondawes.com
In the meantime, perhaps the answers to some FAQ from the IGS web site might prove helpful.
1. What is general semantics about?
There are as many different ways to answer this question as there are to respond to, "What is psychology?" or "What is behavior?" In fact, there are so many they've been collected into a compendium of definitions, available on the IGS web site.
Here is one: "General Semantics" refers to a general system of evaluation - that is to say, a systematic methodology for individuals to use in understanding how they relate to the world around them, how they react to this world, how they react to their reactions, and how they adjust their behavior accordingly. You could also say that general semantics is concerned with the continual processes related to how we perceive what goes on, how our nervous systems construct those perceptions into some kind of cognitive experience, how we evaluate or respond to the experiences, and then how we communicate our experiences.
General Semantics was introduced by Alfred Korzybski in his 1933 book,
Science and Sanity: An Introduction to Semantics.
© 2008
