Correspondence: to be or not to be.

Correspondence: to be or not to be. Sirs: In Korzybski's Science and Sanity it is pointed out thatthe verb "to be" is at the root of much of our neurosemanticpsychopathology psychopathology/psy��cho��pa��thol��o��gy/ (-pah-thol��ah-je)1. the branch of medicine dealing with the causes and processes of mental disorders.2. abnormal, maladaptive behavior or mental activity. . The "is" of predication In CPU instruction execution, executing all outcomes of a branch in parallel. When the correct branch is finally known, the results of the incorrect branch sequences are discarded. See branch prediction. is peculiar to almostall major European languages. It does not, however, exist in alllanguages. In Chinese, for example, the verb "to be" does notexist at all, and ordinarily the subject precedes the predicate In programming, a statement that evaluates an expression and provides a true or false answer based on the condition of the data. withoutintervention of any other word. Occasionally, for variation in meaning,a particle is inserted between subject and predicate. Nevertheless theChinese have most of the ills described by Korzybski as due to semanticcauses. Today the western world's attention is centered on Russia. Itseems that Russia is heir to the semantic ills described by Korzybski,and has been heir to them throughout its long and bloody history. Astudy of elementary Russian, however, reveals that Russian departs fromother Indo-European languages Indo-European languagesFamily of languages with the greatest number of speakers, spoken in most of Europe and areas of European settlement and in much of southwestern and southern Asia. in that, as in Chinese, the verb "tobe" is not used in the copulative cop��u��la��tive?adj.1. Grammara. Serving to connect coordinate words or clauses: a copulative conjunction.b. Serving as a copula: a copulative verb. sense. Nor is any other verb soused. The predicate simply follows the subject. For example, to say,"She is a girl," the Russians say ona dievochka. Ona means"she," and dievochka means "girl." In itsdiscussions of the word "is," Science and Sanity could not betranslated into Russian. The Russians, however, despite their resolution of a problem ofsemantics outlined by Korzybski, have exhibited all the individual andcollective psychopathologies of other nations; they have had morons andmadmen, thieves and murderers, poverty and war. From this observation, one of two conclusions may be drawn: 1. The verb "to be" is not a semantic offender. 2. The Russian language Russian language,also called Great Russian, member of the East Slavic group of the Slavic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Slavic languages). is heir to certain semantic weaknessesparallel to but different from the semantic peculiarities of otherIndo-European languages. Only the former solution seems tenable ten��a��ble?adj.1. Capable of being maintained in argument; rationally defensible: a tenable theory.2. to the author, and if thisis correct, major changes in the basic theories of general semantics gen��er��al semantics?n. (used with a sing. verb)A discipline developed by Alfred Korzybski that proposes to improve human behavioral responses through a more critical use of words and symbols. arenecessary in order to validate it. It may be that if these changes aremade, it would more closely approximate the optimistic predictions ofits author. HARRY F. DARLING, M.D. AMESBURY, MASSACHUSETTS For the town in Wiltshire, England, see Amesbury. The Town of Amesbury is a city[1] in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. In 1890, 9798 people lived in Amesbury; in 1900, 9473; in 1910, 9894; in 1920, 10,036; and in 1940, 10,862. [Editors' Note. The absence of the predicative pred��i��cate?v. pred��i��cat��ed, pred��i��cat��ing, pred��i��catesv.tr.1. To base or establish (a statement or action, for example): I predicated my argument on the facts. copula copula/cop��u��la/ (kop��u-lah)1. any connecting part or structure.2. a median ventral elevation on the embryonic tongue formed by union of the second pharyngeal arches and playing a role in tongue development. in manylanguages has been pointed out by several students and critics ofgeneral semantics. Common to the views not unlike those expressed by Dr.Darling is the assumption that the simple presence of the "is"of identity in a language is taken in general semantics to be a"root of neurosemantic ills." Such a theory would indeed beinvalidated by linguistic facts. However, the assumptions of generalsemantics go deeper. A source of maladaptive MaladaptiveUnsuitable or counterproductive; for example, maladaptive behavior is behavior that is inappropriate to a given situation.Mentioned in: Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy semantic reactions is takento be an orientation, of which the dominance of the "is" ofidentity is only an expression. The absence of an explicit"is" in no way indicates the absence of the identificationhabit. The Russian expression ona dievochka connotes the identificationof a particular person with the class "girl" just as much asif the "is" were there. It should be also pointed out that the "inadequacy" ofthe Indo-European predication model in no way implies the"adequacy" of other models, in which predication is notstressed. (The fact remains that the scientific orientation developedmost rapidly among the Indo-European speaking peoples.) Therefore thesomewhat romantic enthusiasms of Benjamin Lee Whorf and othermetalinguists for the "non-aristotelian" orientation of someprescientific pre��sci��en��tif��ic?adj.1. Of, relating to, or occurring at a time before the advent of modern science and the application of its methods.2. peoples should be taken, I believe, with a grain of salt.On the other hand, the discoveries of the metalinguists are valuable inthat they point out by actual example the possibility of involved and"self-consistent" organization of reality on bases other thanthe metaphysical precepts of the Indo-European languages. Our readersare invited to consult S.I. Hayakawa's "What Is Meant by theAristotelian Structure of Language?" in Language, Meaning andMaturity: Selections from ETC ETC - ExTendible Compiler. Fortran-like, macro extendible. "ETC - An Extendible Macro-Based Compiler", B.N. Dickman, Proc SJCC 38 (1971). ., 1943-1953 (New York New York, state, United StatesNew York,Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of : Harper,1954).--Anatol Rapoport.] It will be our contention that the usual effort to investindividual words with meaning has rested on the false assumption thatwords are self-sufficient elements of language. This assumption arose inpart from our grammar in which subjects behave as constant bodiesclothed clothe?tr.v. clothed or clad , cloth��ing, clothes1. To put clothes on; dress.2. To provide clothes for.3. To cover as if with clothing. in varying predicates, and thus gain a seeming independence fromthe rest of language. But, to anticipate some of the conclusions of ourforthcoming analysis, there has been another, less noticed factor behindour attribution of meaning to separate words. This arises from theconfusion of two distinct functions of our written word. On the one handwe have its phonetic function, by which it comes to stand for anothersymbol, namely, its corresponding speech word. In performing this taskour written word often acquires the capacity to stand for other wordsindefinitely according to according toprep.1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians.2. In keeping with: according to instructions.3. grammatical and logical rules. On the otherhand, we have its designative function by which the word is said to namesome "object." Our written word in every instance must fulfillthe first function; it must stand for a speech word--that is why it iswritten. But only in some cases does it name an "object," thatis, only when its corresponding speech word names an "object."In our highly literate culture we tend to forget to apply this basictest of a written word's nameability. If the written word is merelypronounceable it plays its primary role and, especially if it is a noun,we are prone to concede it the additional role of being a name as well.From this habit serious errors have arisen. In dealing with ourso-called "higher abstract terms those which express abstract ideas, as beauty, whiteness, roundness, without regarding any object in which they exist; or abstract terms are the names of orders, genera or species of things, in which there is a combination of similar qualities.See also: Abstract " we do not recognize thattheir "abstractness" often consists solely of an extension oftheir original phonetic function, in their acquired exchangeability fora plurality of other words. Hence we are apt to regard such words as thenames of abstract things. By our historical argument we will attempt toclarify the basic linguistic conditions for these functions of namingand standing for. This will lead us to judge meaning through a pragmaticanalysis of language rather than in the traditional terms of"ideas," "perceptions" or "objects." Manyfine philosophic points will remain unresolved and certainly no adequateor final concept of meaning will be found, but we may be able to makesome progress in attaining a more scientific and operational approach tothe problem of meaning in our western languages. What our culture today is in part confronted by is the collapse ofa "picture theory" of language. While this theory best thrivedduring the great mathematico-deductive achievements of western thought,it was strongly supported by the image theory of mind developed inBritish empiricism Noun 1. British empiricism - the predominant philosophical tradition in Great Britain since the 17th centuryempiricism, empiricist philosophy, sensationalism - (philosophy) the doctrine that knowledge derives from experience . Now although "correspondence theories" oftruth are not completely passe pas��s��?adj.1. No longer current or in fashion; out-of-date.2. Past the prime; faded or aged.[French, past participle of passer, to pass, from Old French; see and are still being developed inincreasingly subtle form, there is no longer an implicit assumption thatall objects or events described in language are in some sensepicturable. This leads to an important distinction. The most completely picturable things are particular objects, likeMt. Blanc, President Eisenhower, the Empire State Building. To a lesserdegree it is also possible to picture such objects as members of aclass: we can picture mountains, men and buildings. The picturability ofobjects as class members depends on the amount of similarity between themembers of the class. What is actually pictured in such cases is alow-order abstraction--but abstraction none the less. We can call suchabstractions "perceptual abstractions" because they rest onthe sensory similarities between particular "objects"--thingswhich, like our three examples, are constantly peaked, two-legged,windowful. But these "perceptual abstractions" do notdetermine many of the other "groupings" we make from ourexperience: of wealth, equipment, honesty, intelligence, etc. Leavingaside for the moment the precise nature of these latter groupings, wecan agree to call them "conceptual" and the terms thatdesignate them "conceptual abstractions." What the members ofthese groups have in common is, in any case, not some thing that can beregarded as a "sensory similarity." Now a "picture theory" of language is most plausible whenlinguistic abstractions are "perceptual." As we go up theabstraction ladder, however, the picture metaphor becomes less and lesstenable. We can literally photograph any particular sensible object,like Hayakawa's "Bessie, the cow"; we can paint areasonably communicable communicable/com��mu��ni��ca��ble/ (kah-mu��ni-kah-b'l) capable of being transmitted from one person to another. com��mu��ni��ca��bleadj.Transmittable between persons or species; contagious. picture of cows generally; we can very roughlysketch quadrupeds, perhaps needing the aid of some conventional sign;but going beyond in any higher abstract direction--to mammals,organisms, farm assets--we are clearly stymied. No word, idea or imagehaving any important physical or sensory resemblance to these latterclasses is possible. Perhaps this is why the medieval"nominalists," the precursors of modern empiricism empiricism(ĕmpĭr`ĭsĭzəm)[Gr.,=experience], philosophical doctrine that all knowledge is derived from experience. For most empiricists, experience includes inner experience—reflection upon the mind and its , agreedthat such universals or classes were only "names" forcollections of particulars. On the other hand, the scholastic"realists," who believed in the existence of classes oruniversals, had recognized the importance of these high-orderabstractions in human thought, scientific as well as theological, andrefused to dismiss them as mere "names," but instead,following Plato, reified them as conceptual entities. It is interestingto remember, however, that both of these Christian philosophies, intheir polar opposition, nevertheless assumed that the function oflanguage was somehow to reproduce, or re-present, that which itdescribes. If we take the word "picture" too literally, of course,we can make all kinds of respectable philosophies look absurd. However,we are here primarily concerned with the criterion of meaning; and whenwe consider the historical development of language we shall see that thecaricature we have drawn is not so far-fetched after all. ... It is our demure de��mure?adj. de��mur��er, de��mur��est1. Modest and reserved in manner or behavior.2. Affectedly shy, modest, or reserved. See Synonyms at shy1. little written word sitting there on paper as ifit named, represented, or pictured something, which has sentphilosophers scurrying scur��ry?intr.v. scur��ried, scur��ry��ing, scur��ries1. To go with light running steps; scamper.2. To flurry or swirl about.n. pl. scur��ries1. The act of scurrying. for its external mate. In the non-Indo-Europeanpicture-scripts a word was a picture--it was meant to be. It was easytherefore to point out what kind of thing it pictured. This was thefunction of the word. And while the pictureword performed this functionwell, it was thereby prevented from engaging in complicated economizingand substitution relationships and developing "higher"theoretical disciplines. But our western script-words were devised toassist and supplement our speech. They were never constructed to usurp u��surp?v. u��surped, u��surp��ing, u��surpsv.tr.1. To seize and hold (the power or rights of another, for example) by force and without legal authority. See Synonyms at appropriate.2. the function of the spoken sentence or to be vicars for events. In factthey have, as an extraordinary by-product by��prod��uctor by-prod��uct ?n.1. Something produced in the making of something else.2. A secondary result; a side effect.by-productNoun1. of their original service,done something far more important. They have organized among themselves.They have acquired the function of levers for moving great masses ofother words and so have done tasks they could never do separately asempirical delegates. In thus producing the miracle of western"abstract thinking," they have become our efficient servantseither to remake or destroy our civilization. RICHARD DETTERING, "WHAT PHONETIC WRITING DID TO MEANING" EDITOR: NORA MILLER