History & Objectives
ETC: A Review of General Semantics is a journal founded in 1943 by the International Society for General Semantics. ISGS merged with the Institute of General Semantics in 2003 and since that time the Institute has published the journal.
ETC is devoted to publishing material which contributes to and advances the understanding of language, thought and behavior: time-binding (and its failures), map-territory confusion, word-meaning problems, dating, indexing, two-valued thinking, categorical thinking, non-allness, signal reactions, problems with the abstraction process, self-reflectiveness, and other facets of general semantics.
Back Issues
Back issues of ETC: A Review of General Semantics are available for download in searchable PDF format from the IGS Store.
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Article Request
Individual articles from ETC: A Review of General Semantics are available for purchase in searchable PDF format from the IGS Store.
Click here to request an individual article from ETC: A Review of General Semantics.
Submitting to ETC
ETC welcomes submissions about the symbolic environments that humans spend their time in. We are interested in approaches to the nature of language, how we make what we call meaning, and how we can be better meaning-makers through an understanding of the relationships among symbols, mind, meaning, language, thought, and culture.
Submissions fall into four main areas, keeping in mind, of course, that these categories are tentative, artificial, and subject to revision. The categories are meant to express the broad range of possible contributions, not limit them. Contributors are not required to specify which area a particular piece falls into.
- Articles about the symbolic environment, emerging or persisting metaphors, current or historical study of symbol use which advance the academic understanding of symbols and human behavior and culture.
- Cases and observations of language use and misuse in politics, commerce, relationships, and self-talk which contribute to our personal understanding of the relationship of symbols and behavior.
- Instructional schemata for educators to illustrate general semantics principles: lessons plans, activities, demonstrations, etc.
- Poems, diagrams, short fiction, artwork, or other vehicles for thought which express or explain some idea about symbols and behavior, such as maps and territories, abstractions, non-categorical thinking, extensional thinking, or the principle of etcetera.
Article submissions are accepted electronically at the email addresses below. Please review the Writer’s Guidelines and Publishing Agreement before submitting.
Editor: Ed Tywoniak (editor-etc (at) generalsemantics.org)
Book Review Editor: Martin H. Levinson (MandkLevin (at) aol.com)
Sample Issue of ETC: A Review of General Semantics
ETC: A Review of General Semantics
Volume 62, Issue No. 1 (January 2005)
Table of Contents
Full Issue
Contributor Information
INSTITUTE OF GENERAL SEMANTICS, INC.
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(modified November 7, 2011)
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ETC: A Review of General Semantics is a journal founded in 1943 by the International Society for General Semantics. ISGS merged with the Institute of General Semantics in 2003 and since that time the Institute has published the journal.