Introduction to General Semantics

An In-Person Seminar
June 9-11

Mexico City

The Institute of General Semantics is pleased to sponsor an in-person seminar on general semantics and related non-aristotelian systems. The 3-day intensive course will include lecture, discussion, and exercises designed to provide participants with a thorough grounding in the discipline and its applications.

For those unfamiliar with general semantics, the seminar will provide a comprehensive introduction to the tradition and its 21st century evolution. For those already familiar with the non-aristotelian approach, the course will provide reinforcement, enrichment, and an updating and expansion of the discipline. And for those interested in and/or involved in teaching, the seminar will provide useful guidance on pedagogy related to topics such as language, symbolic communication, thought and behavior, and epistemology and evaluation.

The seminar leaders will include four trustees of the Institute of General Semantics:

Mary P. Lahman, Professor Emerita of Communication Studies at Manchester University and author of Awareness and Action

Lance Strate, IGS President, Professor of Communication and Media Studies at Fordham University, and author of Media Ecology: An Approach to Understanding the Human Condition, and Concerning Communication: Epic Quests and Lyric Excursions Within the Human Lifeworld. 

Peggy Cassidy, Professor of Communication at Adelphi University, President of the New York Society for General Semantics, editor of Explorations in Media Ecology, and author of Bookends: The Changing Media Environment of American Classrooms and Children, Media, and American History: Printed Poison, Pernicious Stuff, and Other Terrible Temptations.

Thom Gencarelli, Professor of Communication at Manhattan University, Treasurer of the Institute of General Semantics, and editor of ETC: A Review of General Semantics.

The seminar will be held on June 9th to 11th in Mexico City, at the Universidad Panamericana campus. The annual meeting of the Media Ecology Association will take place immediately preceding the start of the seminar, from June 5th to 8th, and seminar participants are encouraged to attend, as the MEA convention will include several sessions sponsored by the Institute of General Semantics.

The seminar fee is $100 for IGS members, $200 for non-members, and will cover the cost of course materials. Participants will be responsible for their own transportation, room, and board.

For more information about hotels nearby, click here.

We will try to accommodate everyone interested in attending the seminar, but space will necessarily will be limited, so register early to insure your participation!

Schedule

Day 1: The Map is Not the Territory

Day 1 Morning

  9-10               Introductions

10-11               The Map is Not the Territory

11-12               Understanding Perception

Lunch Break

Day 1 Afternoon

1:30-2:30        Sensory Awareness

2:30-3:30        Structural Differential

3:30-5:00        Embodied Awareness

Day 2: The Word is Not the Thing

Day 2 Morning

 9:00-10:00        The Meaning of Meaning

 10:00-11:00      Verbal/Meta Awareness

  11:00-12:00     Non-Aristotelian Principles of Thought

Lunch Break

Day 2 Afternoon

1:30-2:30        Extensional Orientation and Devices

2:30-3:30        Abstracting, Reification, and the IFD Disease

3:30-5:00        Semantic Relaxation

Day 3: The Organism-as-a-Whole-in-an-Environment

Day 3 Morning

9:00-10:30        Facts and Inferences

10:30-12           Art and Awareness

Lunch Break

Day 3 Afternoon

1:30-3:00        Language, Thought, and Metaphor

3:00-5:00        The Semantic Environment

Location: Room V8, New Building, Universidad Panamericana

Registration is for 

In-Person Attendance ONLY

and will be open at a later date 

All IGS Members in Good Standing Will Receive Instructions on How to Livestream the Event Online Prior to the AKML

The 73rd Annual 

Alfred Korzybski

Memorial Lecture

and the Symposium on

Discourse,

Dialogue,

and Democracy

October 3rd-5th, 2025

for the Call for Papers Click Here

Co-Sponsored by the

New York Society for General Semantics

the International Bateson Institute

the Media Ecology Association

the Tomkins Institute

and the 404 Festival of Art and Technology

featuring

Tristan Harris

Tristan Harris is Co-Founder of the Center for Humane Technology (CHT), a nonprofit organization whose mission is to align technology with humanity’s best interests. He regularly briefs heads of state, technology CEOs, and US Congress members, in addition to mobilizing millions of people around the world through mainstream media. Tristan has explored the influences that hijack human attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs, from his childhood as a magician to his coursework in Stanford’s Persuasive Technology Lab to his leadership as a Design Ethicist at Google. Today, he studies how major technology platforms wield dangerous power over our ability to make sense of the world and leads the call for systemic change. In 2020, Tristan was featured in the two-time Emmy-winning Netflix documentary, The Social Dilemma. The film unveiled how social media is dangerously reprogramming our brains and human civilization. It reached over 100 million people in 190 countries across 30 languages. His viral presentation, The AI Dilemma, with Aza Raskin, maps where we’re heading with AI and how we can respond. As a co-host of the top-rated technology podcast, Your Undivided Attention, he explores the drivers behind social media’s race for attention, its destabilization of society, and potential solutions. 

The lecture, dinner, and symposium are being held at the historic Players Club in Gramercy Park, Manhattan. 

Registration is free for IGS members and their guests, but all attendees must be registered in advance in order to gain admittance to the club. More information regarding the dinner and symposium schedule will be made available at a later date.

Please note that as an historic 19th century landmark, the site is not handicap accessible. Dress code is business casual and is strictly enforced, including no sneakers, shorts, ripped jeans, t-shirts).