Dare to Inquire: Sanity and Survival for the 21st Century and Beyond (Paperback)

~ (Author) "Something like 6.1 billion humans presently (2003) live on planet Earth, almost 4 times the number of people who lived 100 years ago..." (more)
Key Phrases: probabilistic atheism, extensional standards, extensional orientation, United States, Albert Ellis, Humanist Manifesto (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...Bruce Kodish has established himself at the forefront of writers in general semantics, neuro-evaluational linguistics and humanistic philosophy...." -- Robert P. Pula, Director Emeritus, Institute of General Semantics

"...a great achievement...this well-written book educates ...inspires...has many facets of interest...really sets you to thinking." -- James D. French, Editor-in-Chief, General Semantics Bulletin

"...an eminently straight-forward approach to both scientific and ethical inquiry...compelling program for the unification of science and ethics." -- John Allman, Ph.D., Hixon Professor of Neurobiology, California Institute of Technology

"...shows how the principles of general semantics can help one lead a rich and fulfilling life..." -- Timothy J. Madigan, Chairman, Editorial Board of Free Inquiry Magazine

"...tackles head-on many of the key issues which confront and confound modern society...challenging...stimulating... Dare to read it." -- Jim Underdown, Executive Director, Center for Inquiry-West

"A gutsy antidote for befuddlement—if you feel confused by contradictory belief systems,...or an unhealthy craving for perfect answers..." -- Paul Dennithorne Johnston,Executive Director, International Society for General Semantics

"In a time of rising...terror, we need this as badly as a city with plague needs vaccines and antibiotics." -- Robert Anton Wilson, Author of TSOG:The Thing That Ate The Constitution

...tools...people with back pain can use to... modify posture and movement.... ... a useful resource for clinicians... -- Physical Therapy,Volume 82, Number 4, April 2002

Product Description

In "Dare to Inquire" Bruce Kodish surveys the spectrum from closed, dogmatic, fundamentalist systems to open, skeptical, humanistic ones. He provides means, using general semantics, for promoting openness in oneself and others. Applications are made to religion, ethics, science and other areas of life.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Extensional Pub (February 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0970066473
• ISBN-13: 978-0970066473
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,823,227 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Let's hear it for daring inquiry!, January 22, 2004

By	Robert L. Eddy (Norristown, PA United States) - See all my reviews

NOVA took on the question of whether psychiatry is really science ("Freud Under Analysis"). Why? Because psychiatry, although polemic, has enough substance to it to deserve criticism. I don't expect to see a NOVA on "Astrology Under Analysis."

General Semantics (GS), and its founder Alfred Korzybski, have enough substance to them to warrant attack. Max Black, Martin Gardner, Steven Pinker, and other bright, sincere attackers have delivered their criticisms of GS. Having read Dr. Bruce Kodish's defense of GS against the attackers ("Contra Max Black" 1998), I feel if Korzybski were alive today he'd be patting Kodish on the back and urging him to "Give them another whack!"

But GS is a philosophy opposed to fundamentalism and intolerance. How does a tolerant person defend anything? The answer is in the book's title: with daring inquiry. The inquiry part says "Here are my beliefs, tentative though they are." The daring part is selling one's ideas with the best logic one can muster without being fundamentalist. Kodish excells in both.

Speaking of "Dare to Inquire," he says "In it I give my present responses to some perennial questions about the nature of the world and of humans, the role of science in society, the 'meaning' and purpose of life, and how we humans can get along with one another. Whether or not you agree with my conclusions, I hope they inspire you , the reader, as you formulate answers for yourself." Now THAT's tolerant and undogmatic! That's Inquiry. Now to the Daring.

Kodish attacks fundamentalism with a fervor. He reminds me of William Perry's concept of the "committed relativist"--one who knows he doesn't have the only map of the territory, but who champions his map against less-well-thought-out ones. And his map is a modern cornucopia of GS tachniques (abstracting, non-allness, indexing, etc.) applied to perception, mathematics, politics...and even religion.

I (and probably you) don't hold to some of Kodish's conclusions. But that's just content. His process is impressive. Were I on the staff of NOVA I wouldn't produce the episode "General Semantics Under Analysis" without Dr. Kodish's consulting advice.

Bob Eddy

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Inquiry as a pathway to truth, June 11, 2003

By	Harold McFarland (Florida) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Life can be pretty confusing these days. With newspapers being used to spout forth political agendas instead of unbiased news, international and national terrorism rampant, and governmental officials showing us the path to unethical behavior it only increases the confusion. The solution, at least on a personal level, is through inquiry. "Dare to Inquire" examines scientific and ethical inquiry as a pathway to truth.

The focus in the book is on a field of study known as general semantics. Using the principles of general semantics you can remove illusions that appear to be reality. In fact a major focus of general semantics is that what we perceive to be fact and reality is only a portion or one aspect of true reality. By opening your understanding to more fully grasp all of reality it opens the doors to deeper understanding, happiness and better communication in all areas of life.

Bruce Kodish is very blunt about the fact that this is Humanistic philosophy. Those who have a dogmatic opposition to humanism will not like the book, others will find it interesting, informative and a recommended read.

16 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Korzybski is turning in his grave!, December 9, 2003

By A Customer

There is an old Zuni Indian saying that there are no truth, only stories.

Bruce Kodish seems to have lost track of what is one of the most important statement of General Semantics: "The Map is not the territory."

While Mr. Kodish is eager to point out what he perceives as others' failings (i.e. mistaking the map for the territory) the author is all too willingly and self-conplacently loosing track of his own shortcomings in this matter. A major focus of General Semantics is that what we perceive to be fact and reality is only a portion or one aspect of reality. A thing the author does make sure to remind us of but then quickly forgets as he proceeds to present to his readers HIS view of the world.

The world is what it is. We can make all kinds of maps and models of how the world works, and some of them can be very useful, and we can talk about them with great benefit. But the models and maps and any words one can put together can never do more than approximate the actual world or the actual phenomena being examined. The actual territory is beyond verbal description.

Bruce Kodish would have us believe that his own political/ideological views are an accurate description of reality, while the views of those with whom he disagrees are based on an erroneous perception of that same reality (i.e. Bruce's reality.) In so doing he falls prey to the "either-or" fallacy and "black-white" thinking he only seems able to perceive in others, thus exposing his own dogmatism and biases-which are many! This makes "Dare to Enquire" more an exercise in demagoguery rather than the sober appraisal it pretends to be.

The main goal of Korzybski's General Semantics is better human relationships at all levels of our human interactions-personal, interpersonal, societal, international. This can be accomplished by being highly and unceasingly attentive to the ways we speak, listen, understand, interpret, give meanings to, give values to, 'think' about, and evaluate words, symbols, and other features of our human and physical environments.

A lot of excellent books and essays have been written on that subject. I wish I could say that "Dare to Inquire" is one of them but it is not.