Enriched edition. Time-Binding, Language, and the Evolution of Human Knowledge: General Semantics, Psychology, and the Foundations of CommunicationBy Alfred Korzybski
Manhood of Humanity advances Alfred Korzybski's thesis that humans are time-binding beings: uniquely able to accumulate and transmit knowledge across generations. Rejecting biological reductionism and social Darwinism, he sketches a scientifically informed human engineering to reform education, economics, and politics through more adequate evaluations. The style is manifesto-cum-treatise—polemical, systematic, and fond of mathematical metaphors—typical of post–World War I modernism, blending Progressive optimism with disillusion while critiquing metaphysical and authoritarian habits that distort collective reasoning. A Polish-born engineer and wartime intelligence officer, Korzybski witnessed the lethal power of propaganda and faulty inference. Emigrating to the United States, he fused technical training with ethical urgency, work that would mature in Science and Sanity and the general semantics movement. This book is his germinal blueprint. Recommended to readers of philosophy of language, communication, systems thinking, and intellectual history, Manhood of Humanity remains bracingly relevant. Approach it for its prescient account of symbolic action, its critique of institutional illusions, and its program for better evaluations. Expect bold claims and dated terms; depart with sharper habits of inquiry.
Quickie Classics summarizes timeless works with precision, preserving the author's voice and keeping the prose clear, fast, and readable—distilled, never diluted. Enriched Edition extras: Introduction · Synopsis · Historical Context · Brief Analysis · 4 Reflection Q&As · Editorial Footnotes.
