Korzybski: A Biography

About this book

"Thats a crazy book!" Albert Einstein said in the early 1950s when asked his impression of Alfred Korzybskis 1933 work Science And Sanity. More than a decade later Richard Feynman found Korzybskis notion of "Time-Binding" crucial for answering the question "What is science?". Feynman didnt know that it was Alfred Korzybski who had coined the term in his first 1921 book Manhood of Humanity where time-binding labeled what he considered the defining characteristic of humans: the potential of each generation to start where the former leaves off and thus having the potential to accumulate useful knowledge at an ever-accelerating rate. In the exact sciences and technology time-binding seems to work reasonably well. In the rest of human life not so much. Korzybski a patriotic Polish nobleman and an engineer who had lived under Tsarist tyranny and had seen the horrors of World War I on the Eastern Front before coming to the United States realized the results of the disparity between rapid but narrow scientific-technological advancement and broader but snail-paced ethical-social development: a seemingly endless cycle of crises revolutions and wars. Seeking a way out he studied a broad range of disciplines from physics to psychiatry and discovered factors of sanity in physico-mathematical methods. Comparing the ways of thinking that scientists and mathematicians exemplify when working at their best and the ways of thinking that they and other people unsanely or insanely tend to use the rest of the time; Korzybski linked science and sanity in a new world outlook with an accompanying methodology (labeled general semantics)simple enough to teach children. Traces of Korzybskis pioneering work can be found today in a variety of fields such as cognitive science cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy communication neuro-linguistic programming media ecology medicine organizational development philosophical counseling semiotics and philosophy etc. In spite of this Korzybskis radically interdisciplinary work remains mainly unassimilated into standard academic fields and hard to accurately fit into familiar popular categories. Thus Korzybski remains a relatively neglected and misunderstood figure shrouded in controversy: some people have considered him a genius while others have called him a crank. Drawing on an array of sources including Korzybskis personal correspondence notes scrapbooks and both published and unpublished writings as well as personal discussions and interviews with some of Korzybskis closest co-workers Bruce I. Kodish situates Korzybskis contributions in the context of his time and provides surprising insights into his work as a whole. Kodishs clear prose provides a compellingly readable narrative of Korzybskis very busy sometimes too busy exciting and exhausting life while making accessible some of the most complex areas of Korzybskis thought. For years to come this outstanding biography will remain the standard work on Alfred Korzybskis extraordinarily adventurous and significant life and work.