Science and Sanity: An Introduction to Non-Aristotelian Systems and General Semantics

Lancaster, PA and New York: Science Press, 1933. First printing.

FIRST PRINTING OF SCIENTIST-PHILOSOPHER ALFRED KORZYBSKI'S MAGNUM OPUS.

9 1/2 inches tall hardcover, Blue cloth binding, gilt title to spine, i-xx, 798 pp, illustrations. Light wear to spine ends, otherwise near-fine in custom archival mylar cover.

ALFRED HABDANK SKARBEK KORZYBSKI (1879 - 1950) was a Polish-American philosopher and scientist. He is remembered for developing the theory of general semantics. Korzybski's work argued that human knowledge of the world is limited both by the human nervous system and by the structure of language. For Korzybski, people do not have access to direct knowledge of reality; rather they have access to perceptions and to a set of beliefs which human society has confused with direct knowledge of reality. To embody this insight, Korzybski is remembered as the author of the dictum: "The map is not the territory". Korzybski's work culminated in the initiation of a discipline that he named general semantics (GS). As Korzybski said, GS should not be confused with semantics, a different subject. The basic principles of general semantics, which include time-binding, are described in the publication Science and Sanity, published in 1933 (offered here). After the publication of Science and Sanity he traveled about teaching briefly in many schools and universities. In 1938 Korzybski founded the Institute of General Semantics in Chicago. The post-World War II housing shortage in Chicago cost him the Institute's building lease, so in 1946, he moved the Institute to Lakeville, Connecticut, USA, where he directed it until his death in 1950.