Dwayne

Onur Senturk

Fri, 24 May 2013 10:44:00 -0400

"Bertrand Russell has said: “Logic is the youth of mathematics, mathematics is the manhood of logic.”..."

Fri, 24 May 2013 10:23:42 -0400

“Bertrand Russell has said: “Logic is the youth of mathematics, mathematics is the manhood of logic.” This brilliant mot of the eminent philosopher of mathematics is no doubt just and is profoundly significant; the least it can teach us is that it is useless to try to find a dividing line between logic and mathematics, for no such line exists; to seek for one serves merely to betray one’s ignorance of mathematical philosophy.”

- Alfred Korzybski, Polish-American scientist, engineer, mathematician, philosopher, linguist, logician, author of Science & Sanity: An Introduction to Non-Aristotelian Systems and General Semantics, and is remembered most for developing the theory of general semantics (1879-1950)

"Our life problems have always been “solved” by verbalists and rhetorical metaphysicians who cleverly..."

Thu, 23 May 2013 21:33:00 -0400

“Our life problems have always been “solved” by verbalists and rhetorical metaphysicians who cleverly played with vague words and who always ignored the supremely important matter of dimensions because they were ignorant of it. There was no possible way to arrive at an agreement on the significance of words, or even the understanding of them. Let us take, for instance, such words as “good” or “bad” or “truth;” volumes upon volumes have been written about them; no one has reached any result universally acceptable; the effect has been to multiply warring schools of philosophy—sectarians and partisans. In the meantime something corresponding to each of the terms “good,” “bad,” “truth” exists as matter of fact; but what that something is still awaits scientific determination. If only these three words could be scientifically defined, philosophy, law, ethics and psychology would cease to be “private theories” or verbalism and they would advance to the rank and dignity of sciences.”

- Alfred Korzybski, Polish-American scientist, engineer, mathematician, philosopher, linguist, logician, author of Science & Sanity: An Introduction to Non-Aristotelian Systems and General Semantics, and is remembered most for developing the theory of general semantics (1879-1950)

Freyja by Pierre-Alain D.

Tue, 21 May 2013 20:48:40 -0400

Freyja by Pierre-Alain D.

"Classes and concepts may, however, also be conceived as real objects, namely classes as..."

Tue, 21 May 2013 20:18:00 -0400

“Classes and concepts may, however, also be conceived as real objects, namely classes as ‘pluralities of things’ or as structures consisting of a plurality of things and concepts as the properties and relations of things existing independently of our definitions and constructions. It seems to me that the assumption of such objects is quite as legitimate as the assumption of physical bodies and there is quite as much reason to believe in their existence. They are in the same sense necessary to obtain a satisfactory system of mathematics as physical bodies are necessary for a satisfactory theory of our sense perceptions.”

- Kurt Gödel, Austrian American logician, mathematician, philosopher, and is best known for his two incompleteness theorems, which are important both in mathematical logic and in the philosophy of mathematics(1906-1978)

"Keyser’s formulation can be stated succinctly: From premises, conclusions follow inexorably...."

Wed, 15 May 2013 23:53:37 -0400

“Keyser’s formulation can be stated succinctly: From premises, conclusions follow inexorably. He was concerned to detect the ‘spaces’ of formulational freedom, the ‘windows of opportunity’ available to humans when they are reasoning. His investigations convinced him that, once a given premise (assumption, etc.) is accepted, usually unconsciously, as ‘true’, the reasoner, if logically consistent, must reach conclusions which are related in an ironclad to that accepted premise. This deterministic connection between premise and conclusion(s) he called logical ‘fate’. Once a premise is accepted, we are ‘fated’ to reach related (derived) conclusions. Accepted assumptions have consequences.

Where, then, is human freedom in evaluating? Keyser maintained that the focus of freedom is precisely at the level of premise selection, premise evaluation. But this selection/evaluation must be conscious; we must become aware of our premises before we can decide, based extensional procedures, whether or not they constitute a ‘true’ foundation upon which to do valid reasoning, i.e., higher order verbal evaluating/formulating, which may yield further ‘true’ statements — statements which can, in their turn, be evaluated with relation to the ‘territory’ of experience.”

- Robert P. Pula, A General-Semantic Glossary: Pula’s Guide for the Perplexed, (1928), Ch. 19 - Neuro-Logical Inevitability, P. 97

Seeds of Life by Pierre-Alain D.

Fri, 10 May 2013 04:39:52 -0400

Seeds of Life by Pierre-Alain D.

"The word ‘supernatural’ is by definition an incoherent concept and thus a meaningless..."

Thu, 09 May 2013 16:31:00 -0400

“The word ‘supernatural’ is by definition an incoherent concept and thus a meaningless word, for its’ phenomenal occurrence from an observational perspective is indistinguishable from a phenomenal occurrence that is permitted to occur given certain conditions— from following particular rules or natural laws. A ‘supernatural’ event is also by definition, an ‘event that breaks laws of nature’. Therefore, asserting an event as ‘supernatural’ requires the assumption that ‘all’ natural laws are thoroughly known in order to meaningfully discern a violation. Hearing a friend’s voice over a cell phone would be denoted as ‘supernatural’ by a ‘primitive’ islander who has never experience and thus couldn’t possibly imagine such ‘magic’ because this ‘violates’ the laws of nature as he or she understands them ‘to be’, but to a ‘modern’ day human, consistent with the governing principles of nature.

Elbert Hubbard, with respect to this consideration, mockingly clarifies this point with the following quote: ‘The supernatural is the natural not yet understood.’ Hence, those who claim occurrences as ‘supernatural’ are merely affirming and indicating their superficial, ignorant and incoherent ‘understanding’ of these natural occurrences by means of meaninglessly denying existence of the very methodical or systematic cognitive element that allows these individuals to asses such ‘supernatural’ occurrences to begin with at any level. It should consequently be apparent how the denying of this element can preclude the possibility of deeper inquiry of such phenomena.”

- Dwayne Rousseau

"The old word “metaphysics” is an illegitimate child of ignorance and an unnecessary word in the..."

Mon, 06 May 2013 23:22:20 -0400

“The old word “metaphysics” is an illegitimate child of ignorance
and an unnecessary word in the scientific study of nature. Every phenomenon of nature can be classed and studied in physics or chemistry or mathematics; the problem, therefore, is not in any way supernatural or superphysical, but belongs rather to an unknown or an undeveloped branch of physics. The problem, therefore, may be not that of some new science, but rather that of a new branch of mathematics, or physics, or chemistry, etc., or all combined.”

- Alfred Korzybski, Polish-American scientist, engineer, mathematician, philosopher, linguist, logician, author of Science & Sanity: An Introduction to Non-Aristotelian Systems and General Semantics, and is remembered most for developing the theory of general semantics (1879-1950)

Cleopatra by Pierre-Alain D.

Mon, 06 May 2013 22:57:18 -0400

Cleopatra by Pierre-Alain D.

"In science and particularly mathematics we usually try to make assumptions conscious. Not so in..."

Fri, 03 May 2013 19:29:36 -0400

“In science and particularly mathematics we usually try to make assumptions conscious. Not so in life, often with said consequences, except perhaps when we undergo psychotherapy and become conscious of our assumptions. Here we could make a broad generalization that the advance of science and its human value is based, among others, on making unconscious assumptions conscious. It may be said also that most of psychotherapy depends on the same process, thus linking science and sanity. It has not been suspected that the structure of our language also automatically involves silent assumptions which work through the process of implications. Thus, if we use a language of elementalistic structure such as ‘space’ and ‘time’, ‘body’ and ‘mind’, ‘emotion’ and ‘intellect’, the silent assumptions are that these ‘entities’ can be divided, which is false to facts, as there are no such entities taken separately, and the split remains only verbal. A cat without a body should appear only to an Alice and only in Wonderland.”

- Alfred Korzybski, Polish-American scientist, engineer, mathematician, philosopher, linguist, logician, author of Science & Sanity: An Introduction to Non-Aristotelian Systems and General Semantics, and is remembered most for developing the theory of general semantics (1879-1950)

"The term ‘infinite’ means a process which does not end or stop, and it is usually symbolized by ∞...."

Thu, 02 May 2013 15:03:24 -0400

“The term ‘infinite’ means a process which does not end or stop, and it is usually symbolized by ∞. The term may be applied, also, to an array of terms or other entities, the production of which does not end or stop. Thus we may speak of the infinite process of generating numbers because every positive integer, no matter how great, has a successor; we can also speak of infinite divisibility because the numerical technique gives us means to accomplish that. The term ‘infinite’ is used here as an adjective describing the characteristics of a process, but should never be used as a noun, as this leads to self-contradictions. The term ‘infinity’, as a noun, is used here only as an abbreviation for the phrase ‘infinite process of generating numbers’,. If used in any other way than as an abbreviation for the full phrase, the term is meaningless in science (not in psychopathology) and should never be used.”

- Alfred Korzybski, Polish-American scientist, engineer, mathematician, philosopher, linguist, logician, author of Science & Sanity: An Introduction to Non-Aristotelian Systems and General Semantics, and is remembered most for developing the theory of general semantics (1879-1950)

Mechanic of Time by Pierre-Alain D.

Wed, 01 May 2013 15:52:34 -0400

Mechanic of Time by Pierre-Alain D.

"Korzybski viewed most terms as OVER/UNDER DEFINED. “They are over-defined (over-limited) by..."

Wed, 01 May 2013 15:44:55 -0400

“Korzybski viewed most terms as OVER/UNDER DEFINED. “They are over-defined (over-limited) by intension, or verbal definitions, because of our belief in the definition; and are hopelessly under-defined by extension or facts, when generalizations become merely hypothetical.”

We consider such terms indeterminate in extensional ‘meaning’ until we can specify them extensionally, in relation to non-verbal happenings. Such terms include so-called ‘concrete’ terms like ‘horse’, ‘house’, ‘husband’, ‘wife’, etc., as well as more general terms like ‘peace’, ‘honor’, ‘freedom’, ‘love’, ‘hate’, ‘democracy’, ‘dictatorship’, ‘terrorism’, ‘law’, ‘order’, ‘capitalism’, ‘socialism’, etc.

Going even further, we can consider most statements, formulated using such terms, as indeterminate as well. We view most statements as functions, with the individual terms as variables which, as we have seen, can take on a range of ‘meanings’ depending on the context of the listener, level of abstraction, etc.”

- Susan Presby Kodish, Drive Yourself Sane: Using the Uncommon Sense of General Semantics (2010), Ch. 13 - Getting Extensional, P. 68

"The dictionaries define ‘house’ as a ‘building for human habitation or..."

Wed, 01 May 2013 15:43:34 -0400

“The dictionaries define ‘house’ as a ‘building for human habitation or occupation’, etc. Let us imagine that we buy a house; this buying is an extensional activity, usually with some consequences. If we orient ourselves by intension we are really buying a definition, although we may even inspect the house, which may appear desirable, etc. Then suppose we move into the house with our furniture and the whole house collapses because termites have destroyed all the wood leaving only a shell, perhaps satisfying to the eye. Does the verbal definition of the house correspond to the extensional facts? Of course not. It becomes obvious then by intension the term ‘house’ was over-defined, or over-limited, while by extension, or actual facts, it was hopelessly under-defined, as many important characteristics were left out. In no dictionary definition of a ‘house’ is the possibility of termites mentioned.”

- Alfred Korzybski, Polish-American scientist, engineer, mathematician, philosopher, linguist, logician, author of Science & Sanity: An Introduction to Non-Aristotelian Systems and General Semantics, and is remembered most for developing the theory of general semantics (1879-1950)

Origins by Pierre-Alain D.

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 13:12:35 -0400

Origins by Pierre-Alain D.

"A system can be defined as a set of elements standing in interrelations. Interrelation means that..."

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 23:18:16 -0400

“A system can be defined as a set of elements standing in interrelations. Interrelation means that elements, p, stand in relations, R, so that the behavior of an element p in R is different from its behavior in another relation, R’. If the behaviors in R and R’ are not different, there is no interaction, and the elements behave independently with respect to the relations R and R’.”

- Ludwig von Bertalanffy, (1901-1902) Austrian biologist, systems theorist, and founder of general systems theory (GST)

"It is generally agreed that “system” is a model of general nature, that is, a conceptual analog of..."

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 22:13:00 -0400

“It is generally agreed that “system” is a model of general nature, that is, a conceptual analog of certain rather universal traits of observed entities. The use of models or analog constructs is the general procedure of science (or even of everyday cognition), as it is also the principle of analog simulation by computer. The difference from conventional disciplines is not essential but lies rather in the degree of generality (or abstraction): “system” refers to the very general characteristics partaken by a large class of entities conventionally treated in different disciplines. Hence the interdisciplinary nature of general systems theory; at the same time, its statements pertain to formal or structural commonalities abstracting from the “nature of elements and forces in the system” with which the special sciences (and explanations in these) are concerned. In other words, system-theoretical arguments pertain to, and have predictive value, inasmuch as such general structures are concerned.”

- Ludwig von Bertalanffy, (1901-1902) Austrian biologist, systems theorist, and founder of general systems theory (GST)

"Scientific language, which Korzybski used as his model of sane language, is almost exclusively..."

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 02:27:35 -0400

“Scientific language, which Korzybski used as his model of sane language, is almost exclusively extensional and denotative, or at least tries to be. The language of the mentally ill, most obviously “un-sane,” is almost totally intensional and connotative. This is the language that does not correspond to anything “out there,” and this is, in fact, how and perhaps even why the user is mentally ill. Korzybski’s concern with keeping the conscious “connection” or correspondence between language and verifiable referents is, for all practical purposes, paralleled by the process of psychotherapy. In this process, which is largely “just talk,” the purpose is to foster closer and more accurate correspondence between the patient’s language and externally verifiable meanings.”

- Neil Postman, American educator, media theorist and cultural critic, associated with New York University for more than forty year (1931-2003)

Identity Project by ValeriaVi

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 18:31:07 -0400

Identity Project by ValeriaVi