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Plenum, issue 2, July 1946

Page 5

PLENUM     Page five

belongs to somebody else, don't jump to conclusions. "Science and Sanity" contains a bibliography of some 600 books from which Korzybski has drawn. Noticeable to a great extent in his general philosophy is the influence of Bertrand Russell, together with many others. The quotations which headed each part of "World of A" were probably chosen from the dozens of quotations which fill S&S. ........Note: hereafter S&S will be used as abbreviation for K's book.)

K's chief thesis is that since language is such an important factor in human behavior, as we have described above, and since human behavior is pretty punk in the main, it follows that the study of language structure is the first requisite in correcting human behavior.

The most important difference between homo sapiens and the lower animals is that man has a cerebral cortex which permits him to correlate ideas, to remember more distinctly, to predict the future, and in general, to timebind. However, man's language has come to him out of prehistoric times ,and has remained unchanged in basic structure even though man has evolved to capacities and knowledge greater than those which existed when the language first was formed. (Afterthought: put a questionmark after capacities. But knowledge still stands, and that's the important point.)

K therefore concludes that while the ordinary man has all the nervous structure he needs for being completely sane and behaving as a human being should behave, the primeval structure of the language prevents him from realizing these potentialities completely. Certain neurological processes created by the incorrect language inhibit civilized behavior. Therefore the average man acts more like his primeval ancestors, resulting in insanity, world turmoil, etc. (Afterthought: this sounds like a lot of hogwash as I give these statements so bluntly, but you'll have to bear with me until later when I can present some of K's proofs.)

It is necessary to make a complete break with the past. The structure of our language must be revised fundamentally to correspond with present-day scientific knowledge of the universe. If this is done, then confusions in human nervous systems will disappear, human behavior will become rational, and K even goes so far as to say that there will be beneficial psychosomatic influences improving the general health of the individual.

This takes care, at one blow, of the question concerning man's inadequacy to run his world. Chauvenet answers this question by saying the average man is an animal, and not human. K says no -- men are human all right, but they continue to act like animals because the reactionary language structure prevents them from developing a sane nervous system and attaining a sane adjustment with environment. Change the basic language axioms and all men will be able to use their capacities fully.

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PLENUM Page five belongs to somebody else, don't jump to conclusions. "Science and Sanity" contains a bibliography of some 600 books from which Korzybski has drawn. Noticeable to a great extent in his general philosophy is the influence of Bertrand Russell, together with many others. The quotations which headed each part of "World of A" were probably chosen from the dozens of quotations which fill S&S. ........Note: hereafter S&S will be used as abbreviation for K's book.) K's chief thesis is that since language is such an important factor in human behavior, as we have described above, and since human behavior is pretty punk in the main, it follows that the study of language structure is the first requisite in correcting human behavior. The most important difference between homo sapiens and the lower animals is that man has a cerebral cortex which permits him to correlate ideas, to remember more distinctly, to predict the future, and in general, to timebind. However, man's language has come to him out of prehistoric times ,and has remained unchanged in basic structure even though man has evolved to capacities and knowledge greater than those which existed when the language first was formed. (Afterthought: put a questionmark after capacities. But knowledge still stands, and that's the important point.) K therefore concludes that while the ordinary man has all the nervous structure he needs for being completely sane and behaving as a human being should behave, the primeval structure of the language prevents him from realizing these potentialities completely. Certain neurological processes created by the incorrect language inhibit civilized behavior. Therefore the average man acts more like his primeval ancestors, resulting in insanity, world turmoil, etc. (Afterthought: this sounds like a lot of hogwash as I give these statements so bluntly, but you'll have to bear with me until later when I can present some of K's proofs.) It is necessary to make a complete break with the past. The structure of our language must be revised fundamentally to correspond with present-day scientific knowledge of the universe. If this is done, then confusions in human nervous systems will disappear, human behavior will become rational, and K even goes so far as to say that there will be beneficial psychosomatic influences improving the general health of the individual. This takes care, at one blow, of the question concerning man's inadequacy to run his world. Chauvenet answers this question by saying the average man is an animal, and not human. K says no -- men are human all right, but they continue to act like animals because the reactionary language structure prevents them from developing a sane nervous system and attaining a sane adjustment with environment. Change the basic language axioms and all men will be able to use their capacities fully.