Map–territory relation: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 00:05, 25 March 2025

Revision as of 12:11, 15 May 2025

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==History==

The phrase "Aa map is not the territory" was first introduced by Alfred Korzybski in his 1931 paper "A Non-Aristotelian System and Its Necessity for Rigour in Mathematics and Physics," presented at a meeting of the [[American Association for the Advancement of Science]] in [[New Orleans]], and later reprinted in ''[[Science and Sanity]]'' (1933).<ref>{{cite book |last=Korzybski |first=Alfred |author-link=Alfred Korzybski |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WnEVAQAAIAAJ |title=Science and Sanity. An Introduction to Non-Aristotelian Systems and General Semantics |publisher=The International Non-Aristotelian Library Pub. Co. |year=1933 |pages=747–761}}</ref> Korzybski credits mathematician [[Eric Temple Bell]] for the related phrase, "the map is not the thing mapped."<ref>Korzybski, Alfred (1933), p. 247.</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Bell |first=Eric Temple |author-link=Eric Temple Bell |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VCI5AAAAIAAJ |title=Numerology |publisher=[[Williams and Wilkins]] |year=1933 |___location=[[Baltimore]] |page=138}}</ref> In the article, Korzybski states that "A map {{em|is not}} the territory it represents, but, if correct, it has a {{em|similar structure}} to the territory, which accounts for its usefulness."<ref>{{cite book |last=Korzybski |first=Alfred |url=https://archive.org/details/sciencesanityint00korz |title=Science and Sanity: An Introduction to Non-Aristotelian Systems and General Semantics |publisher=International Non-Aristotelian Library Publishing Company |year=1933 |page=58}}</ref>

The concept has been illustrated in various cultural works. Belgian surrealist [[René Magritte]] explored the idea in his painting ''[[The Treachery of Images]]'', which depicts a pipe with the caption, ''"Ceci n'est pas une pipe"'' ("This is not a pipe").<ref>{{cite book |last=Barry |first=Ann Marie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZiTpRxkTMwUC |title=Visual Intelligence: Perception, Image, and Manipulation in Visual Communication |publisher=SUNY Press |year=1997 |page=15|isbn=978-0-7914-3435-2 }}</ref> [[Lewis Carroll]], in ''[[Sylvie and Bruno Concluded]]'' (1893), describes a fictional map with a scale of "a mile to the mile,", which proves impractical. [[Jorge Luis Borges]] similarly references a map as large as the territory in his short story "[[On Exactitude in Science]]" (1946). In his 1964 book ''[[Understanding Media]]'', philosopher [[Marshall McLuhan]] argued that all media representations, including electronic media, are abstractions or "extensions" of reality.<ref>{{cite book |last=McLuhan |first=Marshall |title=Understanding Media |publisher=McGraw-Hill |year=1964 |isbn=9780262631594}}</ref>

The idea has influenced a number of modern works, including [[Robert M. Pirsig]]'s ''[[Lila: An Inquiry into Morals]]'' and [[Michel Houellebecq]]'s novel ''[[The Map and the Territory]]'', the latter of which won the [[Prix Goncourt]].<ref>Pirsig, Robert M. ''Lila: An Inquiry into Morals'' (1991), pp. 363–364.</ref><ref>Houellebecq, Michel. ''The Map and the Territory'' (2010).</ref> The concept is also discussed in the work of [[Robert Anton Wilson]] and [[James A. Lindsay]], who critiques the confusion of conceptual maps with reality in his book ''Dot, Dot, Dot: Infinity Plus God Equals Folly''.<ref>Lindsay, James A. (2013). ''Dot, Dot, Dot: Infinity Plus God Equals Folly'', Fareham: Onus Books.</ref> Historian of religion [[Jonathan Z. Smith]] named one of the books collecting his essays ''Map is Not Territory''.<ref>Smith, Jonathan Z. ''Map is Not Territory'' (1978).</ref> Similarly, a collection of writings by AI Pessimist [[Eliezer Yudkowsky]] was named ''Map and Territory''.<ref>Yudkowsky, Eliezer ''Map and Territory: Rationality from AI to Zombies'' (2018).</ref>