Wednesday, December 30, 2009

The 'Right' To An Opinion

I feel happy to have Ralph Hamilton as my friend. Ralph attended Alfred Korzybski's summer seminars in 1946 and 1947, and then became Korzybski's personal assistant for over a year. Ralph lived at the Institute of General Semantics in Connecticut and spent a great deal of time with Korzybski. An extremely astute fellow, Ralph has helped me quite a bit and in many ways, in my research on Korzybski's biography, including giving me letters and other documents he obtained and kept, and giving me a personal angle on Korzybski, his habits, his conversation, etc. (Ralph does a good imitation of Alfred that sounds very much like the recordings). Ralph just had his 90th birthday on December 28 and I just got off of the phone with him to wish him a happy one with many many healthy more! Happy Birthday, Ralph!

In a letter he wrote to me on March 13, 2005 Ralph wrote:
As to opinions, [Korzybski] used to say, "In the old, 'democratic' way, everyone has a 'right' to his opinion. In the new way, scientifically, no one has a 'right' to his opinion—if he has not studied the matter and informed himself."

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