ETC.: A Review of General Semantics articles from July 2005

ETC.: A Review of General Semantics archives from July 2005

In this issue.(Editorial)
July 1, 2005... OUR COVER for this issue presents the "Nine Ages of Man," a bronze sculpture by Randolph W. Johnston. The artist's comments on the work reveal his perception of the process nature of human existence, on both the individual and the species...

Tracking how we change: Joseph Conrad's insights on "dating" ourselves.(Cover Story)
July 1, 2005... AS TIME PASSES, we change. If we deny or ignore change, we create problems for ourselves. The general semantics technique of dating reminds us that we change. Recently, I re-read Joseph Conrad's evocative, wistful short story "Youth," a...

How do I love thee? Let me define my terms.(Poem)
July 1, 2005... By 'how' I mean not only to what extent but also by what actions. Not only the degree but also the mechanism. Not only the "feeling" but also the "thought." By 'love' I refer to the extraordinary process of connection that grows out of...

Using general semantics to enhance organizational leadership.
July 1, 2005... WHAT MAKES a good leader? Organizational leadership requires a complex mixture of skills and techniques, which can be enhanced through the use of general semantics. In my leadership tenure with the New York City Department of Education...

On time-binding consciousness.
July 1, 2005... I PROPOSE that the human behavior labeled "time-binding," as described by Korzybski, involves "progress," not just "passing information from one generation to another," or simply "starting where the former generation left off," or...

Whole language or phonics: improving language instruction through general semantics.
July 1, 2005... TWO STRATEGIES have dominated reading instruction in the United States: whole language and phonics. Whole Language Instruction Whole language instruction operates from the premise "that youngsters acquire language rather than learn it...

Anthropologist presents 53rd Alfred Korzybski Memorial Lecture.(Robert Carneiro)(Biography)
July 1, 2005... ETHNOLOGIST Robert Carneiro studied with renowned anthropologist Leslie White. He discovered general semantics through the work of Stuart Chase and from there moved on to studying the works of Alfred Korzybski. Carneiro combined what he...

IFD disease and the "happiness formula".(Special Section)
July 1, 2005... Should we "dream the impossible dream" or "dream the possible dream"? Does lowering our expectations mean making unacceptable compromises--and giving up? Excessive idealism and perfectionism can lead to frustration and stagnation. Instead...

Abstractions.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2005... The tendency of the casual mind is to pick out or stumble across a sample which supports or defies its prejudices, and then make it representative of a whole class. WALTER LIPPMAN The most vicious form of politics is academic politics....

Asperger's syndrome could be a character-builder.(CALLING OUT THE SYMBOL RULERS)(Column)
July 1, 2005... IF MY SON ASHER "suffers" from Asperger's Syndrome, I wonder if we all wouldn't do better to have a touch of it ourselves. If you don't know, Asperger's Syndrome is a clinical term used for a certain type of autism--one that, in the...

Response to Charles Coursey's commentary.(CALLING OUT THE SYMBOL RULERS)(Column)
July 1, 2005... IN THE YEARS since a doctor told me I had Apserger's Syndrome (AS), I have learned something about the features of this syndrome. During the same period, I discovered and began to study general semantics (GS). So even before reading Mr....

The effective time-binder and Maslow's "self-actualizing person".(CALLING OUT THE SYMBOL RULERS)
July 1, 2005... THERE IS ONE similarity among all human beings that can be used to bridge our differences: we are all potentially effective time-binders, the present crown of the evolutionary tree, the most complex and artfully constructed of all organisms. It...

Uncertainty and death.(CALLING OUT THE SYMBOL RULERS)
July 1, 2005... IN 1789, Ben Franklin reminded a friend that only two things remained certain in life--death and taxes. In the current age, it would appear that some would like to change even that. Of taxes, we may speak another time. For the moment, we will...

Symbolism and the Terri Schiavo case.(CALLING OUT THE SYMBOL RULERS)
July 1, 2005... FOR SEVERAL WEEKS in March, many of us agonized, argued, and wept as the human drama of Terri Schiavo's life and death played out on our television screens and in practically every form of media available. One could certainly argue that...

Uninvolved involvement.(METAPHORS IN ACTION)
July 1, 2005... HOW DO WE describe the experience we have watching television? Somehow our language does not do a good job capturing its complexity. Lately I have been pondering some "oxymetaphors," or oxymorons used as metaphors, which might do the job...

Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy: It Works for Me - It Can Work for You.(Book Review)
July 1, 2005... Albert Ellis. Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy: It Works for Me--It Can Work for You. Amherst, NY: Prometheus, 2004. In this book, Albert Ellis, 91, founder of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), presents a forthright self-assessment...

The Creation of the Media: The Political Origins of Mass Communications.(Book Review)
July 1, 2005... Paul Starr. The Creation of the Media: The Political Origins of Mass Communications. New York: Basic, 2004. Paul Starr, a Princeton sociologist, has done extensive research to produce a media history spanning the years 1600-1941 (the latter...

Isaac Newton.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
July 1, 2005... James Gleick. Isaac Newton. New York: Vintage, 2003. "Isaac Newton said he had seen further by standing on the shoulders of giants, but he did not believe it. He was born into a world of darkness, obscurity, and magic; led a strangely pure...

Fifty years ago in ETC.(RETROSPECT)(Column)
July 1, 2005... We have often been asked the origin of the term "transactional" and why we use the word. We have borrowed the term from Dewey and Bentley and we mean by it about the same thing that Dewey and Bentley do. They explain it in terms of the...

Mark your calendar--2005.
July 1, 2005... July 11-17 -- Milwaukee, General Semantics Seminar-Workshop, co-sponsored by IGS and Alverno College. Open to Alverno students for credit and to non-students. A comprehensive learning experience for those wishing to study the interdisciplinary...