Editing General semantics (section)

=== Abstracting and consciousness of abstracting ===
Identification prevents what general semantics seeks to promote: the additional cortical processing experienced as a delay. Korzybski called his remedy for identification "consciousness of [[abstraction|abstracting]]."<ref>Korzybski, Alfred. ''Science and Sanity'' (5th ed.). p. 500</ref> The term "abstracting" occurs ubiquitously in ''Science and Sanity.'' Korzybski's use of the term is somewhat unusual and requires study to understand his meaning.{{citation needed|date=May 2018}} He discussed the problem of identification in terms of "confusions of orders of abstractions" and "lack of consciousness of abstracting".<ref>Korzybski, Alfred. ''Science and Sanity'' (5th ed.). p. 36</ref> To be conscious of abstracting is to differentiate among the "levels" described above; levels II–IV being abstractions of level I (whatever level I "is"—all we really get are abstractions). The techniques Korzybski prescribed to help a person develop consciousness of abstracting he called "extensional devices".<ref>Korzybski, Alfred. ''Science and Sanity'' (5th ed.). p. lx.</ref>