E-Prime and Hayakawa

One of the first things to catchy my eye upon my reading of "Toward Understanding E-Prime" was Alfred Korzybski's involvement in the development of E-Prime. His 1933 book on semantics, Science and Sanity, depicted the downfalls involved with the usages of the verb "to be". In fact, Korzybski concluded these factors to be so problematic that he has encouraged student training in the field of semantics to avoid "logical error, emotional distortion, and demonological thinking" (Wilson).

The irony, however, is that Hayakawa also quoted Alfred Korzybski in Language in Thought and Action. "Man's achievements rest on the use of symbols. -Alfred Korzybski" (Hayakawa 13).

If Korzybski feels the use of symbols to be such an art, why is he willing to delete two of them?

The second section of the packet also brought to light something of interest. The army's new slogan, "Be an Army of One," appeals to both the tastes of the individual in favor of independence and the individual in favor of togetherness. This ties in quite nicely with the "you device" and "we device" discussed in class today.

Just some thoughts. What are yours? (..So much for the usage of E-Prime.)

(Sam Maliha)