Manhood of Humanity.

Book cover
Count Alfred Habdank Skarbek Korzybski was a Polish-American philosopher and scientist. First of all, he is famous for suggesting and developing the theory of general semantics. His first book called ‘Manhood of Humanity: The Science and Art of Human Engineering’ was published in 1921. In his book he suggested and explained a new theory of humankind. Korzybski considered humankind to be a time-binding class of life. The crown of philosopher’s work is founding of a discipline that he called general semantics. As the scientist said, you shouldn’t confuse general semantics with semantics, which is actually an absolutely different subject. The main principles of general semantics, endue time-binding, are given and explained in ‘Science and Sanity’, which was published in 1933.
In ‘Manhood of Humanity: The Science and Art of Human Engineering’ Korzybski wrenches all the principles of modern economics, religion and ethics, simply starting with a new type of classification. The classification itself is elementary. It is based on extensional approach to humanity and life in general, rather than on an intensional approach based on systems of metaphysics. No doubt there would be much less poverty, pain and grief in the world, if everyone found time to read this book. In his book, the author suggested the government to be the institution that would help to increase time-binding. Alfred Korzybski begins his book with solving the problems of the world. The question is whether the ‘nature’ of human can change, involving well-known fact that human is an animal. Of course, all our political, social institutions, and even everyone of us live according to general jungle law of "survival of the fittest" as the 'strongest'. Although, Charles Darwin wrote about surviving of the fittest, not the strongest. That’s why Korzybski that the functional re-definition was necessary as it differentiated the evolutionary development better. Where plants have an equivalence to Chemical-binders: capacity to convert energy(for example, photosynthesis) into growth, etc. Next is that animals have an equality to Space-binders: capacity to move to find food. While humans have an equivalence to Time-binders: capacity to improve on the accumulated abstractions of others then transmitting it for future generations. All these ideas bring us to answering old questions. For example, why do revolutions along with wars happen? It is all because Science, Engineering, etc., as a time-binding process develops geometrically, while our moral, social 'opinions'('prejudices'), etc., progresses arithmetically, non-empirically. For instance, on many occasions people in discussion groups have protested against technological progress, yet it is not the technology that becomes the problem but their uses due to mis-evaluations. Further that our values for power (charisma as in leadership or-both exchange as in wealth), esteem, life-style, etc., remains based on a duplicity which includes the conquest of the living by prostituting the time-binding knowledge created by the dead. Instead Korzybski advocates co-operation in place of 'competition'; whilst self-improvement in place of 'greed', 'territorialism', 'capitalism', etc. Thus Korzybski argues that humans are not by 'nature''fixed innate', but changeable through nurture; however to discover how this becomes possible, further why we 'copy animals in our nervous reactions'(the consequences)- required further research, culminating in "Science And Sanity".
add to favoritesadd

Users who have this book

Users who want this book

What readers are saying

What do you think? Write your own comment on this book!

write a comment

What do you think? Write your own comment on this book

Info about the book

Series:

Unknown

ISBN:

1463748000

Rating:

5/5 (40)

Your rating:

0/5

Languge:

English

Other books by this author

Do you want to exchange books? It’s EASY!

Get registered and find other users who want to give their favourite books to good hands!