Introduction to E Prime.

History of E Prime

International Society for General Semantics .

'In 1933, in Science and Sanity, Alfred Korzybski proposed that we should abolish the "is of identity" from the English language. (The "is of identity" takes the form X is a Y. e.g., "Joe is a Communist," "Mary is a dumb file-clerk," "The universe is a giant machine," etc.) In 1949, D. David Bourland Jr. proposed the abolition of all forms of the words "is" or "to be" and the Bourland proposal (English without "isness") he called E-Prime, or English-Prime.' | Anton Wilson on E-Prime |

When asked why calling things by their right names was so important to good governance, the Master replied: "What a boor you are! When things are not called by their right names, what is said cannot make sense. When what is said does not make sense, what is planned cannot succeed. When plans do not succeed, people become uneasy. When people are uneasy, punishments do not fit crimes. When punishments do not fit crimes, people cannot know where to put hand or foot." --Anonymous

The Sapir-Whorf-Korzybski Hypothesis

"It seems likely that the principal software used in the human brain consists of words, metaphors, disguised metaphors, and linguistic structures in general. The Sapir-Whorf-Korzybski Hypothesis, in anthropology, holds that a change in language can alter our perception of the cosmos. A revision of language structure, in particular, can alter the brain as dramatically as a psychedelic. In our metaphor, if we change the software, the computer operates in a new way. "

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The "A"-type statements (Standard English) all implicitly or explicitly assume the medieval view called "Aristotelian essentialism" or "naive realism." In other words, they assume a world made up of block-like entities with indwelling "essences" or spooks- "ghosts in the machine." The "B"-type statements (E-Prime) recast these sentences into a form isomorphic to modern science by first abolishing the "is" of Aristotelian essence and then reformulating each observation in terms of signals received and interpreted by a body (or instrument) moving in space-time.

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Relativity, quantum mechanics, large sections of general physics, perception psychology, sociology, linguistics, modern math, anthropology, ethology, and several other sciences make perfect sense when put into the software of E-Prime. Each of these sciences generates paradoxes, some bordering on "nonsense" or "gibberish," if you try to translate them back into the software of Standard English.

From Inversions, by Burt Alpert:

A connotation of dialectic persists, even in Plato, that is thus quite different from its use to refute an opponent, to reject other views as being "contrary," or to narrow the scope of an inquiry.

The concept of dialectic as a "co-operative" rather than antagonistic enterprise is deeply rooted in the linguistic origins of this and the other words in question....

In short, the point of view associated with the root words for dialectic and for dialogue/syllogism/logic was one that might be characterized as a "YES, AND" resopnse rather than a "NO, BUT." Its intention was that of adding to conversation rather than contradicting it. This response must have reflected a relationship to other conversationalists as fellows rather than as rivals and the substance of their speech as being of value rather than competitive or a threat. The outlook implied is one of acceptance, mutual regard aand social synthesis, instead of the polarity, refutation, rejection and repression that is developed in Plato and Aristotle.Inversions, Chapter 7

E-Prime...From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Alfred Korzybski coined the term E-Prime, short for English Prime, to refer to the English language modified by prohibiting the use of the verb "to be." E-Prime arose from his ideas of General Semantics and his observation that English speakers most often use "to be" to express dogmatic beliefs or assumptions or to avoid expressing opinions and feelings as such. Its advocates assert that the use of E-Prime leads to a less dogmatic style of writing that reduces the possibility for misunderstanding and conflict. However, one cannot use E-Prime with C. K. Ogden's Basic English because Basic has a closed set of verbs that does not include the verbs such as "become", "remain", and "equal" that E-Prime uses to express states of "being". Wikipedia article

Eldon's Rule of General Semantics

- A label should reflect the contents.

A related web site, TT The Table - .David Bohm-dialogue on-line:

"...thus, in a dialogue, each person does no attempt to MAKE COMMON certain ideas or items of information that are already known to him, rather, it may be said that two people are making some thinkg in common, i.e. creating some thinkg new together."

TT - The Table.David Bohm-dialogue on-line

Quine proves Whorf

The Ontological Relativity of Quine proves [supports] the Whorf Hypothesis of languages.

"...for instance, set theory or number theory." [Staloff]

Quine presents a rigorous proof conforming to the rules of Logical Positivism in the fields of mathematics and logic.

The Whorf hypothesis was derived from a different dicipline, the study of linguistics.

[Staloff] "Quine's Ontological Relativism and the end of 'Philosophy'" Darren Staloff, Phd. videotaped lecture in "Modernism and the Age of Analysis" part of "Great Minds ofthe Western Intellectual Tradition"

MuKraken writes (on 7/16/2002)

Re: Quine proves Whorf

Bravo! Kudos to all parties! Good work, team! (I ain't kiddin'!)

(To those not privy to Metaphysics Anonymous material, this is something we've known for some time but had only evidence and intuition with no airtight proof. Bringing together the physical and the metaphysical such that those two dichotomies become superfluous, we finally live up the name "Metaphysics Anonymous" and are well on our way to recovery from the ravages of the Great Gaseous Vertebrate's followers. Meanwhile, fundamentalist Moslems still commit genocide on the Nuba tribespeople in the high desert of the Sudan.) (E-Prime is English without the verb "to be".)

an astrophysicist writes:(on 7/17/2002)

Re: Quine proves Whorf

It was always so obvious to me I didn't know it needed proving - eh eh.

Rational Emotive Therapy

The book A New Guide to Rational Living (by Albert Ellis, PhD. and Robert A. Harper, PhD.) describes Rational Emotive Therapy.

It was written in 1961 and rewritten in E Prime in about 1973:

"...we have revised this edition of the Guide in E-Prime. A form of English invented by D. DAvid Bourland, Jr., following Korzybski's suggestions." [ Guidepg xiii]

"1. When we use E-Prime, we get rid of certain silly and esentially unanswerable questions, such as 'What is my destiny?' 'Who am I?' "

"2. We eliminate, by using E-Prime, some misleading elegant abbreviations, such as 'We know this is the right thing to do.' " [ Guide pg xiii]

"The main barriers to effective thinking and emoting include these: (1) Some people have too much stupidity to think clearly. Or (2) they possess sufficient intelligence to think straight, but just do not know how to do so. Or (3) they have enough intelligence and education to think clearly but act too disturbedly or neurotically to put their intelligence of knowledge to good use....neurosis essentially consists of stupid behavior by nonstupid people." [Guide pg 37]

The Institute for General Semantics:

"Thus, removing the "to be" verb from English results in a language of a more phenomenological character, in that this change automatically causes a reduction of the number of assumptions in even simple sentences. Statements made in E-Prime almost always mirror first person experience far more adequately than the "is" statements they replace". Spoken E Prime, An Experimental Method for Integrating General Semantics into Daily Life E. W. Kellogg III

TO BE OR NOT TO BE: E-Prime as a Tool for Critical Thinking E-Prime! The Fundamentals D. David Bourland, Jr.

Both-And rather than Either/Or; these two aspects of general semantics work together in a synergistic and integrated fashion:

To advance knowledge and inquiry into non-Aristotelian systems and general semantics through publications, lectures, research, and other appropriate educational and scientific means.

To Be or Not .

| International Society for General Semantics .

."The map is not the territory."

| Metaphysics Anonymous home page | | Proposed additions to the bylaws | | Bylaws | | Essays |

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