Author Description

The Book of Radical General Semantics, Volume Two is arranged into nine Parts.Parts I-VII correspond structurally to the Parts of Volume One. The content, of course, is new. Part I begins with an introduction to the motor of Korzybski’s general semantics—the Structural Differential. Part II revisits Silent Practice—attention to sensory experience—as integral to saner evaluative processes. Silent Practice precedes The Devices of General Semantics (Part III) as it is a skill that facilitates the “fraction of a second psychological delay” intended by the devices. In Part IV, The “Self” and Free Will, the Structural Differential is turned inward to provide a multi-levelled map of one’s very own self in which oneself is three: event-self, object-self, label-self. In Part V, Politics, the formulations of general semantics are applied to such diverse issues as “Tough Love,” “Democracy and Sanity,” “I and Thou,” “War,” “The Bipolar Disorder of Civilization,” “Mapping Personal Responsibility in Bio-social Space.” The Meta Model (Part VI) revisits the NLP Meta Model as a supplement to the set of extensional devices at the heart of General Semantics. Part VII, Participation: Myth Art Religion, “The Science of Final Participation,” counterposes to religion our participation in the event. Part VII, General Semantics and Mindfulness brings to General Semantics meditation practices, the Feldenkrais Method, Sensory Awareness, Contemplative Photography and Simone Weil. Part IX, Two Radicals, puts Ludwig Wittgenstein and Gregory Bateson in dialogue with Korzybski.