The Map Is Not The Territory

The father of general semantics, Alford Korzybski stated, "A map is not the territory it represents, but if correct, it has a similar structure to the territory, which accounts for its usefulness". What this means is that our perception of reality is not reality itself but our own version of it, or our "map". No two people can have exactly the same map. While we all have similar neurological structure, it functions differently in all of us. This is the basis for our problems in communication when we try to impose our map upon another person. Our maps are created through gathering data through the five senses. Our senses bring certain aspects of the world to our attention, which go through neurological processes or filters, forming our values and beliefs. These are often expressed consciously, yet most of the time they operate outside of our awareness. For example when we pour water through a filter not everything passes through. So like water our mind filters out information it feels does not relate to pre-existing reality maps in our mind. To go further there is the essential impossibility of knowing what the territory is, as any understanding of it is based on some representation, for instance when we say the map is different from the territory. You have to say but what is the territory? so when somebody goes out with a measuring stick to measure a rock for instance and take measurements he then puts these measurements on paper. What is on the paper is a map or representation of the rock. But this representation of the rock is a self reflection of the person processing it and filtering out what his mind finds does not match his pre-existing notions of a rock, so really the piece of paper with the representation of a rock is a reality map of a map on a multi dimensional world of maps and as you push the question back, what you find is an infinite regress, an infinite series of maps. The territory never gets in at all. Always, the process of representation will filter it out so that the mental world is only maps of maps, ad infinitum. The problem does not only relate to finding a map that truly relates to reality but to the problem of finding true and objective knowledge. This all meaning that knowledge is all truly subjective and that we don’t have a means of perceiving and processing knowledge objectively. From this we can conclude that since we perceive knowledge subjectively our realty maps prevent us from ever communicating our true feelings and thoughts to others directly as language is an inefficient and inaccurate means of communication. I do believe that one can develop concepts in their head that are distinct from the concepts in another’s head. But can match their concepts to a word in our common language, and then speak the word. They can then match the word to a concept in their mind. So our concepts in effect form a private language which we translate into our common language and so share. As to other ways of communicating like body language, texting, writing, art, ect… all of these mediums of communicating all have the fallibility of the perceiver translating it in his own subjective way based on his own reality map of the world, Things like body language which to a certain degree is universal can be interpreted in slightly different ways as we all have subtle distinctions in the way we make connections in our mind. Art is a perfect instance in that we perceive meaning subjectively. This all add up to the fact that all current ways of communicating are unable to directly communicate ideas and concepts to other people. This all meaning that we can not ever truly connect to others and are ultimately isolated and alone.