IGS Announces Terrence Deacon Will Be the 61st Alfred Korzybski Memorial Lecturer

The Institute of General Semantics has selected anthropologist Terrence Deacon as the 61st Annual Alfred Korzybski Memorial Lecturer (AKML).

Dr. Deacon has done groundbreaking work on human origins, the origins of language and human cognition, and the role of culture in evolution. His latest book, Incomplete Nature, has garnered a lot of interest for its cutting-edge  revisioning of basic formulations for human science. His  AKML presentation this October should be very interesting. 

Balvant K. Parekh - Z'L (His Memory a Blessing)

Balvant K. Parekh, founder of Pidilite Industries, major Indian philanthropist, founder of the Balvant Parekh Centre for General Semantics and Other Human Sciences in Vadodara, Gujarat, India, and winner of the IGS 2011 Talbot Winchell Award for service in the interest and promotion of general semantics, died on January 25 in Mumbai at the age of 89. Here is a short obituary.

He had been suffering from Parkinson's Disease for some time and although his condition had gotten worse in the last three months, he had looked forward to my visit to India which he had sponsored. We had been in close contact but I was not able to have a personal meeting with him before his unexpected death. A great and unfortunately rare human being, a humane and caring industrialist, he cared for people above profits, though his business profited greatly through his good works. He was greatly loved  by all of his employees from drivers and cafeteria workers to top-level managers. 

A serious student of korzybskian general-semantics, that work crystalized for him his own philosophy of dedicated service to his employees, customers, and humanity.  

Here is a 2007 video of Mr. Parekh speaking to a group of GS students in India on communication in business. 

Here is a link to an interview with him in a human resources magazine, Human Factors, where he explains his use of GS in his approach to HR (Human Resources) and in dealing with employees needs and concerns during M &A (Mergers and Acquisitions): "Employees Are the Jugular Vein."

May B. K. Parekh's legacy of good works live on. 

Rolf Sattler on "Science: Its Power and Limitations"

The power of 'science' comes from understanding the limits of human knowledge. In this important article, "Science: Its Power and Limitations", Plant biologist Rolf Sattler discusses the work of some formulators (going back to William James) of the cutting-edge non-aristotelian view of science and human knowledge that Korzybski hoped to advance with his work. 

Here's the link: Science: Its Power and Limitations

India Notes 2013: "Radical General Semantics" Reading List with Article Links

Here is the Reading List—with links to the actual downloadable readings—on "Radical General-Semantics" that I prepared for the rGS Introductory Seminar-Workshop in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India and the rGS Advanced Workshop in Vadodara, Gujarat, India conducted in January 2013 for the Balvant K. Parekh Centre for General Semantics and Other Human Sciences. 

The items on the Reading List were carefully selected to provide a comprehensive introduction and broad survey of the rich literature and wide scope of the radically generalist orientation and discipline that Alfred Korzybski originated.

To get anywhere in mastering the korzybskian extensional discipline, you must read. And the students in both seminar-workshops did read. Having come prepared by studying what I provided, they astonished me with how far they had already gotten in their theoretical knowledge and application to their work, mainly as English teachers. 

Click here to download Reading List on "Radical General-Semantics" .

GS and Literature: Some Articles by David Maas

Dr. David Maas, teaches English language and literature at Wiley College in East Texas. He's an old friend and one of the few people who went through the teacher training program of the old Institute of General Semantics and became a certified teacher of GS. He's written a slew of articles on GS and literature and language instruction. Here are a few of them, kindly posted by The Free Library: David Maas Articles

India Notes 2013: Auto-Rickshaw Ride from City Palace (Jan. 24, Jaipur)

India Notes 2013: Swastikas

Everywhere I looked I found swastikas.

India Notes 2013: A 'Stickle' Warning!

At Jaipur National University, where the B.K. Parekh Centre

held its National Workshop, the dorm room I stayed in could

get very cold at night, but we were warned very stickle, "No

electrical hitters!"