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  • 16 Jun 2013 5:20 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Mary P. Lahman, Ph.D., has recently created Awareness & Action: A General Semantics Approach to Effective Language Behavior, a new ebook available for free download through the IGS Site.

    UPDATE: Version 2 of this PDF has been uploaded to the IGS Store on September 7, 2013. Its cover is depicted here.

    About the eBook

    This 60-page PDF booklet aims at increasing awareness of faulty language behavior and motivating daily action to correct such behavior.

    In the first two sections of the text, Dr. Lahman (Professor of Communication Studies at Manchester University) shows how general semantics can be used as a systematic inquiry into language behavior. In the remaining four sections, Dr. Lahman follows with an application of these formulations, including case studies.

    Table of Contents

    Introduction
    Chapter 1: General Semantics
    Chapter 2: Abstraction
    Chapter 3: Allness
    Chapter 4: Inference-Observation Confusion
    Chapter 5: Bypassing
    Chapter 6: Differentiation Failures
    Conclusion
    References by Chapter
    Glossary

    About the Author

    Mary P. Lahman, Ph.D., is Professor of Communication Studies at Manchester University.

    Download the eBook

    The booklet is also redundantly available in the General Semantics Learning Center under Teaching Materials.

  • 16 Jun 2013 5:19 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Communications: The Transfer of Meaning, Don Fabun's 1968 book that comes with an instructor's guide and teaches general semantics with vivid illustrations, is now available as a PDF ebook for download from the IGS Store.

    About the Book

    A creatively illustrated introduction to communication and produced by award-winning editor and author Don Fabun, its brevity makes it an excellent supplement to courses in speech, journalism, language arts, media literacy, etc.

    The PDF version comes as a .zip file containing an ebook version suitable for reading on Kindle, Nook, etc., a wide-format version that displays the illustrations as intended to be viewed, and an instructor's guide.

    Purchase the Book

  • 16 Jun 2013 5:19 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    At the 14th Annual Convention of the Media Ecology Association, the Institute of General Semantics is sponsoring a panel presentation on teaching general semantics.

    The session is titled “Teaching of General Semantics,” and it is scheduled for Thursday, June 20, 2013, at 2:15-3:30.  Panelist include Martin Levinson, Mary Lahman, and Corey Anton.

    General Information

    The Fourteenth Annual Convention of the Media Ecology Association
    "Media Ecology Unplugged"
    June 20–23, 2013
    Grand Valley State University
    Grand Rapids, Michigan
    http://media-ecology.org/activities/index.html

    IGS Panel

    Moderator

    Corey Anton, Grand Valley State University

    Panel Presenters

    Martin H. Levinson, Institute of General Semantics
    Mary P. Lahman, Manchester University
    Corey Anton, Grand Valley State University

  • 20 Apr 2013 5:18 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Volume 70, Number 1 (January 2013), of the Institute of General Semantics's quarterly journal ETC: A Review of General Semantics is arriving in the mail and is now available for download from the IGS Store in searchable PDF format.

    Table of Contents Preview

      • "A Brief History of the Institute of General Semantics on Its Diamond Jubilee" by Martin H. Levinson
      • "Meta-Indexing the Abstraction of Irony and the Structural Differential" by Terry L. West
      • "Why 'General' Semantics" by Martin H. Levinson
      • "Some Thoughts on Consciousness of Abstracting, Meaning, and Truth" by Milton Dawes
      • "On Errors in Language" by Michael Moore
      • "Language and Politics" by Leonard R. N. Ashley
      • Metaphors in Action:
        "Sophistic Illustrated: Two Couplets for the Years of the Snake" by Peter Zhang
      • "Obituary Notice (Balvant K. Parekh: 1924-2013)" by Prafulla C. Kar
      • Poems:
        "Chronomentrophile" by A. J. Huffman
        "Proporational Verse" by K. J. Hannah
        "Piaget's Sagacity" by K. J. Hannah
        "Another Win: Political Bedfellows" by K. J. Hannah
      • Plus From the Editor, Book Reviews, and Dates and Indexes.

    Cover Art

    The cover of ETC 70:1 is a mixed media work titled "Fate" by Dan Moran.

  • 26 Feb 2013 5:55 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    In Washington, DC, at the 99th Annual Convention of the National Communication Association, the Institute of General Semantics will participate in the preconference sessions.

    General Information

    The 99th Annual Convention of the National Communication Association
    "Connections"

    Preconference: November 20, 2013
    Conference: November 21-24, 2013

    Washington, DC
    http://www.natcom.org/convention.aspx?id=3139

     

    IGS Panel

    Description

    PC06: Applied Semantics and Practical Communication across the Disciplines

    November 20, 2013
    8:00am - 12:00pm

    Location: McKinley, Mezzanine Level, Marriott Wardman Park Hotel

    This preconference session identifies and explores core concepts that span the field of communication and commonly reach across the curriculum of general education. It emphasizes the centrality of discourse and language, and it will provide attendees with resources for thinking about and teaching broad-based theory fundamental courses or communication theory-based courses across disciplines.

    It is designed for both graduate students and professors who would like to deepen their command over fundamental communication concepts and theories and/or are seeking to expand their repertoire of teaching resources.

    By bringing together communication scholars whose work integrates various fields and disciplines and by asking them to provide vital materials for attendees, this half-day session promises to make connections that reach across all courses within the discipline of communication and/or across multiple disciplines.

    Presenters

    Corey Anton, Grand Valley State University
    Richard Lanigan, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
    Adeena Karasick, Fordham University
    Mary Lahman, Manchester University
    Andrew Smith, Edinboro University
    Lance Strate, Fordham University
    Edward Tywoniak, Saint Mary’s College of California

  • 26 Nov 2012 5:53 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    The Institute of General Semantics has released Kindle and Nook formats for several of its titles, and we plan on publishing future works in these electronic formats.

    Here is the current list of titles available in each format as of November 26, 2012 January 5, 2013 January 6, 2013 February 23, 2013.

    Kindle Format

    The following titles are available in Kindle format directly from Amazon.

    Nook Format

    The following titles are available in Nook format directly from Barnes & Noble.

    Traditional Formats

    The books above are also available from the IGS Store in softcover and hardcover formats.

  • 21 Nov 2012 5:51 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Editors Corey Anton and Lance Strate culled sixteen essays for the long-awaited multidisciplinary volume titled Korzybski And..., which is now available in the IGS Store.

    About the Book

    In this volume, Corey Anton and Lance Strate have carefully crafted a collection of comparisons of Korzybski's thoughts to other key philosophers and their ideas. Media, semiotics, imagination, rational thought, cultural studies, and cyberculture are only a sample of the many stimulating topics that come to life in this book ... With freshness and vision, this edited collection takes us on a thought-provoking journey connecting us to the essence of Korzybski's contribution. I found it to be a thoroughly enjoyable read.

    - Karen Lollar Ph.D.
    Chair, Communication Arts and Sciences Metropolitan State University of Denver
    Author of The Talk Within: Its Central Role in Communication (2012)

    The collection of essays contained within this book represent a gallant and exquisite attempt to backtrack, as well as to sidetrack and track ahead, and show how Alfred Korzybski's enterprise is indeed aligned not only with various strains and traditions in academic thought and scholarship, but with the work of a host of significant theorists from across the disciplines. As such Corey Anton, Lance Strate, and their contributors have done a great service to Korzybski's legacy, and to the continuation and expansion of general semantics as both an applied and a theoretical system. They have positioned Korzybski and his work as a locus, rather than an outlier.

    - Thom Gencarelli
    Manhattan College

    Corey Anton and Lance Strate have assembled a "wild variety" of 16 erudite essays demonstrating the past, present and continuing influence and relevance of Korzybskian general semantics. Academic specialists from diverse fields explore the "connections, intersections, and divergences" between general semantics and assorted topics ranging from phenomenology to psychotherapy to philosophy; from Heinlein to Hayakawa to Heidegger; from matters of time and temporality to the nature of human happiness. Korzybski And... is a collection not to be missed, an example of time-binding at its finest.

    - Jacqueline Rudig
    IGS Past Vice-President

    Click here to purchase Korzybski And... in the IGS Store.

    About the Editors

    Corey Anton is Professor of Communication Studies at Grand Valley State University and author of dozens of scholarly papers and book chapters, as well as author of the book Communication Uncovered: General Semantics and Media Ecology (2011). His research spans the fields of existential phenomenology, media ecology, semiotics, communicology, the philosophy of communication, and multidisciplinary communication theory.

    Lance Strate is Professor of Communication and Media Studies and Director of the Professional Studies in New Media program at Fordham University.  He is the author of On the Binding Biases of Time and Other Essays on General Semantics and Media Ecology as well as editor of a number of books on media ecology.

    Purchase the Book

    Click here to purchase Korzybski And... in the IGS Store.
  • 20 Nov 2012 5:50 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Martin H. Levinson is back with the follow-up to his book Sensible Thinking for Turbulent Times.  Titled More Sensible Thinking, the book is now available in the IGS Store.

    About the Book

    In these times of rapid change and constant upheaval, can we learn to think and communicate more effectively-at home, in school, on the job, and as citizens of the larger world?

    This book (like its predecessor Sensible Thinking for Turbulent Times), which is based on the formulations of general semantics, says yes, yes, and yes!

    Topics in it include practical ways to improve your thinking ability, emotional self-management, understanding of the media, and analysis of important social issues.

    Click here to purchase More Sensible Thinking in the IGS Store.

    About the Author

    Martin H. Levinson, Ph.D., is the President of the Institute of General Semantics and the author of numerous articles and several books on general semantics and other subjects. His previous book is Brooklyn Boomer: Growing Up in the Fifties (2011).

    Purchase the Book

    Click here to purchase More Sensible Thinking in the IGS Store.
  • 23 Oct 2012 5:49 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Volume 69, Number 4 (October 2012), of the Institute of General Semantics's quarterly journal ETC: A Review of General Semantics is arriving in the mail and is now available for download from the IGS Store in searchable PDF format.

    Table of Contents Preview

    • "General Semantics, Science, and Medicine: A Quality Approach" by Richard Fiordo
    • "Who's the Mother" by Bill Haase
    • "Indexing the Religious Beliefs of America's Founders" by Martin H. Levinson
    • "Fascism as a Semantic Void into the Meta-Narrative of Rational Modernity" by Alessandro Saluppo
    • Two Poems:
      "Foreclosure" by Peter E. Murphy
      "Good Grief" by Peter E. Murphy
    • "One God" by Ed Tywoniak and Frances Tywoniak
    • "Objectivity--Does It Exist?" by Mark S. Tucker
    • "Advanced Thinking: Mathematics, General Semantics ... Ways to Improve Relationships" by Milton Dawes
    • "Formal Cause, Poiesis, Rhetoric: A Dialogue" by Eric McLuhan and Peter Zhang
    • "Bindings and Becomings: Korzybski, Deleuze, and Ecological Thinking" by Peter Zhang and Eric Jenkins
    • Metaphors in Action:
      "Two Generation Gaps" by Raymond Gozzi, Jr.
    • Probes:
      "Philosophy How?" by Peter Zhang
    • Plus From the Editor, Book Reviews, and Dates and Indexes.

    Cover Art

    The cover of ETC 69:4 is a photograph titled "Sincere Plastic Advertising" by Jeremy Wolff.

  • 13 Sep 2012 5:49 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    After many years of stellar service, Bill Petkanas has stepped down from his position as editor of the journal ETC: A Review of General Semantics, published by the Institute of General Semantics.

    Ed Tywoniak, Associate Professor of Communication and Chair of the department of Communication at Saint Mary's College, will be replacing him starting with the January 2013 issue.

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Quarterly Journal ETC: A Review of General Semantics

ETC contributes to and advances the understanding of language, thought, and behavior. Each issue of ETC provides the latest research and discourse on general semantics.

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