Editorial
The text appeared, with minor modifications, in the author’s book "Introduction to Neurolinguistic Programming" published in Romanian in 2015.

The map is not the territory

Gabriel Suciu, România

Gabriel R. Suciu is a sociologist. He is interested in NLP and creativity. He has written two books – “Erving Goffman and the Organizing Theories” (2010) and “Introduction to Neuro-Linguistic Programming” (2015) – and some articles, like: “Multiple Intelligences” (2011). E-mail: gabriel_remus_suciu@yahoo.com

Jorge Luis Borges wrote in 1960 a half-page story, with an unfathomable depth. The story is called “Del rigor en la ciencia” and presents a country where the most precious art is not the architecture or the painting, or the music, or any combination thereof, and not even the science ... The most precious art is the map making, and the elites of this country spent day and night in this process diligently. At first, the great artists have made maps with one dimension, even if the lines drawn looked more like children’s plays. Then, as time passed by, they began to draw two-dimensional maps that showed the length and width of surrounding things. And it was only one step to the making of three-dimensional maps, of maps including the depth of objects, a step that was realized soon. Oh, my! finally the art of cartography has become so complex that the artists have added four, five, six dimensions, without stopping at a specific number. And would be not a lie to tell the fact that at the very beginning a map made on a leaf pictured the whole universe; and, under the influence of new artists, these maps were made bigger and bigger: first, as a branch, then as a tree, and later as an orchard, to finally reach the size of a forest. And so the day came when an artist coming out of his studio, proudly declared: “Finally I’ve made the best map in the world. This map is so good that is like the territory”. And indeed, when people were contemplating a sunrise or a sunset, with their breath full o scents, with their ears full of silences, with their eyes full of colors, they could distinguish, in the shades, as the map of the artist was molding on the reality...

This story by Jorge Luis Borges is not the only one in which the topic is addressed, and the story of Miroslav Holub can be brought as proof of this claim...

Miroslav Holub’s story is wrapped in the polishing of poetry: but not any kind of poetry, but the poetry without the rhyme and the rhythm - a blessing for any translator. In his poem, entitled “Brief Thoughts on Maps” and written in 1977, is presented a war situation involving Hungarian Empire. One fine morning, when the snowdrifts littered all over the countries, a unit of soldiers left to spy the enemy positions. Success of the mission of this unit would lead to the victory of Hungary, while the failure of this unit would lead to the defeat of Hungary. For if the enemy troops had discovered the Hungarian unit they would attack it and, outnumbered, the soldiers of this unit would become valuable prisoners of war. And after hours of torture, this unit of soldiers would become a bunch of traitors, able to sell their souls for a few minutes of respite. That is the reason why the officer wanted this mission to be accomplished in the shortest time possible. But a terrible storm began and large flakes began to fall from skies. A day has passed away and no news of the unit was received whatsoever. The second day, no signs of the unit was received either and the officer who sent his men to spy plunged into the darkest and most desperate scenarios. Finally, the third day, towards evening, the unit of soldiers made its difficult way back to camp. And in their hot huts, drinking hot wine, the soldiers started telling how they made their way to the top of the Alps through paths traveled just by the beasts of the mountains. And how, arrived to the top of the mountain, under those harsh winter conditions, they thought their fate has been sealed. Until one of the soldiers found a map: the map of the Alps. And so the unit could complete the mission. And while the soldiers were telling their story, the face of the officer was the scene of hopelessness feelings that were gradually replaced by other feelings like wonder and curiosity, just to be replaced, too, by deep feelings of trust. Demanding more and more information, he finally asked his people to show on the map where they were. But to their astonishments, all those soldiers with their officer understood on the spot that “Damn! The map the unit followed was not the Alps map ... but the Pyrenees map!”

Over the centuries, not only poets, but also philosophers had insights about the relationship between map and territory. While the poets have always used ambiguous and confusing statement, the philosophers – on the other hand – have used clear and distinct statements. And these philosophers, here and now, are represented by three authors: Plato, Korzybski and Baudrillard. Moreover: it can easily be said that their lives were lived in different centuries; but just as easily it can be said that their works were written for the same age...

Plato

Plato is a philosopher who lived in Antiquity. Disciple of Socrates and then teacher of Aristotle, Plato wrote dialogues, one of which is the “Republic” where the problem of map and territory is presented in three different sections: in the first section the author dealt with the allegory of the sun, in the second section he presented the allegory of the line, and in the third one the allegory of the cave is described..

1. Thus, Plato, in the allegory of the sun, proposed the following metaphor: as the sun shines over the sensible world, so the Idea of Good creates truth in the intelligible world.

2. Further, Plato developed the allegory of the line with the help of mathematics. Therefore, Plato postulated the existence of the line AB which he divided into two: the AC segment pertaining to the sensible world, the world of Things; and the CB segment pertaining to the intelligible world, the world of Ideas.

Each of these two new segments was divided again into two halves, as for each territory there were two kinds of maps, as follows:

• AD and DC are two modes of knowledge, two types of maps of the sensible world, of the AC segment. AD is the opinion, and DC is the faith. In this allegory, the AD half has a lower value than the DC half.

• CE and EB are two maps, two modes of knowledge, typical to CB territory that represents, actually, the intelligible world. CE is the knowledge derived from intellect, and EB is the knowledge derived from reason. Here, the EB type of knowledge has a higher value than the CE type of knowledge.

3. Finally, in the allegory of the cave Plato resumes the ideas presented in the allegory of the sun and the allegory of the line showing the initiatory journey of a prisoner:

• AD. In a cave there are some prisoners, with the necks, the hands and the feet bounded so they can only look forward. Before them is a wall on which are projected various shades. Behind them, and somewhat above them, there is a fire, and between the fire and the prisoners is a road where all sorts of people carry all sorts of objects. Therefore, the shadows projected on the wall in front of the prisoners come from the fire and the people carrying objects behind the prisoners. And these shadows are nothing but opinions, are nothing but: sensations, perceptions and representations.

• DC. Suppose, now, that one of the prisoners is released and is forced to climb to exit of the cave. So, the prisoner sees for the first time in his life the fire, being blinded by its light, to which he gradually gets used. The fire is the faith of the sensitive world.

• CE. After that, the prisoner climbs to the exit, where he discovers, in amazement, the nature as nightfall. Of course, the prisoner is dazzled at first by the moon and the stars, to which he accommodates shortly. Metaphorically speaking, the moon and the stars are the knowledge derived from intellect that can be found in the intelligible world.

• EB. Tired by the journey, the prisoner falls asleep. And when he wakes up, he has the biggest shock of his life. Now, he discovers that there is a sun that no matter how much he wants to stare at, still fails. He succeeds only in the reflections of rivers and lakes. Undoubtedly, the sun is the knowledge derived from reason that is to be found in the intelligible world.

Broadly, this is the worldview of Plato. There are two territories referred to as a) the sensible world and b) the intelligible world, as there are four specific maps of these territories: 1) the opinion, 2) the faith, 3) the knowledge derived from intellect and 4) the knowledge derived from reason.

Alfred Korzybski

Alfred Korzybski, this Russian spy who defected to the U.S. and who, moreover, was a mathematician by training, presented, in the book "Science and Sanity" (1941), three principles related to the map/ territory problem:

• The map is not the territory: with this principle Korzybski takes against the grain the principle of identity stated by Aristotle; the territory is more dynamic than the map, and until the map has been updated, the territory has changed several times; therefore it is not recommended to use words like “all”, “none”, “never”, “always”; and therefore it is recommended that at the end of any statement to put the abbreviation “etc.” or “and so on and on”; even, it is recommended that every story does not begin with “so”, but with “and”;

• The map describes only parts of the territory: this principle is opposed to another Aristotelian principle, namely the principle of non-contradiction; using a particular map, every person is attentive to certain aspects of reality, but at the same time ignores other aspects of reality; therefore, the word “truth” has to be used only in quotes because it is relative, not absolute;

• The map can be built up from other maps: now Korzybski attacks the principle of the excluded middle first introduced by Aristotle; according to Korzybski a scholar can draw the map of America using another maps of this territory, and without having ever set foot in America; to avoid dissolution of the territory by overlapping maps, Korzybski proposes giving up to the abstract – either concepts or ideas – and standing up to the concrete – which ultimately refers to the information provided by the five senses: visual, auditory, kinesthetic, olfactory and gustatory.

Therefore, Alfred Korzybski presented the relationship between the map and the territory in the first two principles, namely: 1) the map is not the territory, and 2) the map describes only parts of the territory – and the relationship between the map and another maps in the third principle: 3) the map can be built up from other maps.

Jean Baudrillard

Born in France of the ‘20, Baudrillard writed, in the book "Simulacres et simulation" (1981), about the map and the territory problem, distinguishing four stages:

• at first the map refers to a particular territory; this relationship has been described many times as belonging to the sacramental order;

• then by all sorts of transformations, the map, although referring to a particular territory, no longer refers to it in a true way, but in a distorted way; this time, the relationship belongs to the order of evil;

• after that, the territory disappears and the map refers to a territory which does not exist; the order of witchcraft represents this strange report of map and territory;

• finally, in the end, as it could be expected, the maps began to refer to other maps, even if the territory is not taken into account anymore; and the relationship between simulacra belongs, undoubtedly, to the order of simulation...

Restated, Jean Baudrillard took into account both the relationship between the map and the territory – in the forms of 1) the sacramental order, 2) the order of evil, and 3) the order of witchcraft; and the relationship between the map and other maps – in the form of 4) the order of simulation.

In conclusion, the five authors are just a glimpse of the vast literature written about the map and the territory. And the first principle of NLP which postulates that “the map is not the territory” is, as it was seen, just a part of the ideas presented by the five authors. Thus, for one reason or another, much ink has flowed on these two concepts, and much ink will flow on them. And, regardless of the privileged position that life gave us, it is recommended to use the relationship between the map and the territory in full conscious, and not ignoring the debates that took place. For one of the errors commonly used is to take a position – for instance, “the map is the territory”, or “the map is not the territory” – without recognizing it explicitly, but only implicitly. So, if the foundations of our position are robust, our position will stand the test of time. And if the foundations of our position are fragile, our position will be at the mercy and whims of fate...!

References

Baudrillard, Jean (1981) ”Simulacres et simulation”, Galilée

Borges, Jorge Luis (1998): ”Collected Fictions”, Penguin Books

Holub, Miroslav (2010) ”Brief Thoughts on Maps” http://idiolect.org.uk

Korzybski, Alfred (2000) ”Science and Sanity”, Institute of General Semantics

Platon (1986): ”Opere”, Volume V, Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică

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