Editing General semantics (section)

==Connections to other disciplines==
The influence of [[Ludwig Wittgenstein]] and the [[Vienna Circle]], and of early [[Operationalism|operationalists]] and pragmatists such as [[Charles Sanders Peirce]], is particularly clear in the foundational ideas of general semantics. Korzybski himself acknowledged many of these influences.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Berman|first=Sanford I.|title=Wittgenstein and General Semantics|date=1988|journal=ETC: A Review of General Semantics|volume=45|issue=1|pages=22–25|jstor=42579411|issn=0014-164X}}</ref>

The concept of "silence on the objective level"—attributed to Korzybski and his insistence on consciousness of abstracting—are parallel to some of the central ideas in [[Buddhism]]. Although Korzybski never acknowledged any influence from this quarter, later Zen-popularizer [[Alan Watts]] was influenced by ideas from general semantics.<ref>An Impolite Interview with Alan Watts, The Realist, Issue 14, December 1959/January 1960, p. 9, http://www.ep.tc/realist/14/09.html</ref>

General semantics has survived most profoundly in the cognitive therapies that emerged in the 1950s and 1960s. [[Albert Ellis (psychologist)|Albert Ellis]] (1913–2007), who developed [[rational emotive behavior therapy]], acknowledged influence from general semantics and delivered the [[Alfred Korzybski Memorial Lecture]] in 1991. The [[Bruges]] (Belgium) center for [[solution-focused brief therapy]] operates under the name Korzybski Institute Training and Research Center.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.korzybski.com|title= Korzybski International}}</ref> George Kelly, creator of [[personal construct psychology]], was influenced by general semantics.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.pcp-net.org/encyclopaedia/kelly.html |title = George Kelly}}</ref> [[Fritz Perls]] and [[Paul Goodman]], founders of [[Gestalt therapy]] are said to have been influenced by Korzybski<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.gestalt.org/alfred.htm|title= Alfred Korzybski and Gestalt Therapy}}</ref> [[Wendell Johnson]] wrote "People in Quandaries: The Semantics of Personal Adjustment" in 1946, which stands as the first attempt{{Citation needed|date=November 2020}} to form a therapy from general semantics.

[[Ray Solomonoff]] (1926–2009) was influenced<ref>"The Discovery of Algorithmic Probability," Journal of Computer and System Sciences, Vol 55, No. 1, pp. 73–88 [http://world.std.com/~rjs/barc97.pdf (pdf version)]</ref> by Korzybski. Solomonoff was the inventor of [[algorithmic probability]], and founder of [[algorithmic information theory]] ({{aka}} [[Kolmogorov complexity]]).

Another scientist influenced by Korzybski (verbal testimony) is [[Paul Vitanyi]] (born 1944), a scientist in the theory of computation.{{Citation needed|date=November 2020}}

During the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, general semantics entered the idiom of [[science fiction]]. Notable examples include the works of [[A. E. van Vogt]], ''[[The World of Null-A]]'' and its sequels.<ref>"Van Vogt moves on next to General Semantics, a non-Aristotelian system of logic, which he promulgated in ''The World of Null-A'' and ''The Players of Null-A''." Frederick A. Kreuziger, ''Apocalypse and science fiction: a dialectic of religious and secular soteriologies''. Scholars Press, 1982. {{ISBN|9780891305620}} (p.42)</ref> General semantics appear also in [[Robert A. Heinlein|Robert A. Heinlein's]] work, especially ''[[Gulf (Heinlein)|Gulf]]''.<ref>"Heinlein was intensely interested in the work of Alfred Korzybski from 1933, the date of publication of ''Science and Sanity'', Korzybski's masterwork and the foundation document of General Semantics." William H. Patterson and Andrew Thornton, ''The Martian Named Smith: Critical Perspectives on Robert A. Heinlein's. Stranger in a Strange Land''. Nitrosyncretic Press, 2001. {{ISBN|0-9679-8742-3}} (p.44)</ref> [[Bernard Wolfe]] drew on general semantics in his 1952 science fiction novel ''Limbo''.<ref>"...&nbsp;Wolfe's incorporation of cybernetics into ''Limbo'', then, was clearly picking up on contemporary anxieties over the apparently unbridled growth of technologies&nbsp;... One of the figures he refers to positively as introducing a new way of thinking about this issue was Alfred Korzybski, the founder of the General Semantics movement." David Seed, "[https://www.depauw.edu/sfs/backissues/72/seed72.htm Deconstructing the Body Politic in Bernard Wolfe's ''Limbo''"]. ''[[Science Fiction Studies]]'' July 1997. Retrieved 27 April 2018.</ref> [[Frank Herbert|Frank Herbert's]] novels ''[[Dune (novel)|Dune]]''<ref>[[Tim O'Reilly]].''Frank Herbert''. New York, NY: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., Inc., 1981. (pp. 59–60) {{ISBN|0-8044-2666-X}} . "Herbert had studied general semantics in San Francisco at about the time he was writing ''Dune''. (At one point, he worked as a ghostwriter for a nationally syndicated column by [[S. I. Hayakawa]], one of the foremost proponents of general semantics.)"</ref> and ''[[Whipping Star]]'' <ref>O'Reilly, 1981 (p. 180), "The influence of General Semantics is particularly obvious in ''Whipping Star"...</ref> are also indebted to general semantics. The ideas of general semantics became a sufficiently important part of the shared intellectual toolkit of genre science fiction to merit parody by [[Damon Knight]] and others; they have since shown a tendency to reappear in the work of more recent writers such as [[Samuel R. Delany]], [[Suzette Haden Elgin]] and [[Robert Anton Wilson]]. In 2008, [[John C. Wright (author)|John Wright]] extended van Vogt's Null-A series with ''Null-A Continuum''. [[William Burroughs]] references Korzybski's time binding principle in his essay [[The Electronic Revolution]], and elsewhere. [[Henry Beam Piper]] explicitly mentioned general semantics in ''Murder in the Gunroom'', and its principles, such as awareness of the limitations of knowledge, are apparent in his later work. A fictional rendition of the ''Institute of General Semantics'' appears in the 1965 French science fiction film, [[Alphaville (film)|Alphaville]], directed by [[Jean-Luc Godard]].<ref>''Science Fiction, Language, and General Semantics'', The New York Society for General Semantics, https://nysgs.org/event-2475332</ref>

[[Neil Postman]], founder of New York University's [[media ecology]] program in 1971, edited ''ETC: A Review of General Semantics'' from 1976 to 1986. Postman's student [[Lance Strate]], a co-founder of the Media Ecology Association,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.media-ecology.org|title= Media Ecology Association}}</ref> served as executive director of the Institute of General Semantics from 2007 to 2010.

With Charles Weingartner, [[Neil Postman]] included General Semantics within the introductory background analysis in ''Teaching as a Subversive Activity'' (Delacorte, 1969). In particular, they argued that General Semantics fitted with what Postman and Weingartner referred to as the "Whorf-Sapir hypothesis", the claim that the particular language used to describe experience shapes how we perceive and understand that experience; that is, language shapes the way people think. (The "Whorf-Sapir hypothesis" is also known as [[Linguistic relativity]].)