Editing Alfred Korzybski (section)

==General semantics==
Korzybski's work culminated in the initiation of a discipline that he named [[general semantics]] (GS). This should not be confused with [[semantics]]. The basic principles of general semantics, which include time-binding, are described in the book ''[[Science and Sanity]]'', published in 1933. In 1938, Korzybski founded the [[Institute of General Semantics]] in Chicago.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.generalsemantics.org/about-us/history/ |title=The Institute of General Semantics » History |website=Generalsemantics.org |access-date=2016-06-28}}</ref> 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 (Salisbury, Connecticut)|Lakeville, Connecticut]], U.S., where he directed it until his death in 1950.

Korzybski maintained that humans are limited in what they know by (1) the structure of their nervous systems, and (2) the [[structure]] of their languages. Humans cannot experience the world directly, but only through their "abstractions" (nonverbal impressions or "gleanings" derived from the nervous system, and verbal indicators expressed and derived from language). These sometimes mislead us about what is the truth. Our understanding sometimes lacks ''similarity of structure'' with what is actually happening.<ref>{{cite book | last=Korzybski | first=Alfred | title=Science and Sanity: An Introduction to Non-Aristotelian Systems and General Semantics | edition=6 | year=2023 | orig-year=1933 | page=57 | publisher=Institute of General Semantics | isbn=9781970164220}}</ref>

He sought to train our awareness of abstracting, using techniques he had derived from his study of mathematics and science. He called this awareness, this goal of his system, "consciousness of abstracting". His system included the promotion of attitudes such as "I don't know; let's see," in order that we may better discover or reflect on its realities as revealed by modern science. Another technique involved becoming inwardly and outwardly quiet, an experience he termed, "silence on the objective levels".<ref>{{cite book | last=Korzybski | first=Alfred | title=Science and Sanity: An Introduction to Non-Aristotelian Systems and General Semantics | edition=6 | year=2023 | orig-year=1933 | page=34 | publisher=Institute of General Semantics | isbn=9781970164220}}</ref>