Science of Survival
Encyclopedia
Science of Survival is a book published in 1951 by L. Ron Hubbard
, extending his earlier writings on Dianetics
. Its original subtitle was "simplified, faster dianetic techniques", although more recent editions have the subtitle "Prediction of human behavior". It is one of the canonical
texts of Scientology
.
The title of Science of Survival alludes to Science and Sanity, a highly popular work by Alfred Korzybski
, the founder of general semantics
. Hubbard acknowledged Korzybski's contributions in the book.
It has remained perpetually in print over the years, and is currently published by Bridge Publications
, Inc. However, elements in the text have changed over the years, with some modern editions no longer containing specific medical claims of Dianetics' ability to cure disease and to increase IQ.
Science of Survival was the follow-up to Hubbard's best-selling Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health
. It expanded significantly on Dianetics, setting out what Hubbard called the "dynamics of behaviour" and provided descriptions of new techniques of Dianetics processing that Hubbard described as being faster and simpler than those that he had advanced previously. In the book, Hubbard introduced two concepts that were later to become key elements of Scientology: theta
and the tone scale
. He also endorsed the concept of past lives
.
, the relief of psychoses, and the relief of psychosomatic illnesses.
Hubbard said that the tests had been done using psychology
's strictest psychometric
protocols (Minnesota Multiphasic Test and the Wechsler-Bellevue, "Form B") with examiners Gordon Southon, Peggy Southon and Dalmyra Ibanez, Ph.D., Ed. D. who were said to be registered professional personnel. Hubbard also said that their witnessed signatures were affixed to each bank of tests and that all three claims were validated by these tests and these psychometrists.
January 1951 Hubbard published a booklet by these same alleged doctors: Dianetic Processing - A Brief Survey of Research Projects and Preliminary Results by Dalmyra Ibanez, Ph.D., Ed. D., Gordon Southon, Peggy Southon and Peggy Benton In it, the authors state:
The names of the persons in this "group of psychologists" are not mentioned. The booklet presents case histories and X-Ray
s and says that it proves that Dianetics can cure "aberrations" including manic depression
, asthma
, arthritis
, colitis
and "overt homosexuality
." The booklet further says that it used twelve different tests and presents results from five, four of which came from the California Test Bureau and had according to an 1946 investigation of V. E. Ordahl of the University of California
no evidence of reliability or validity.
Modern reprintings of Science of Survival (post twentieth printing) no longer contain information about this study or mention the alleged IQ gains of about ten points and other similar alleged gains. The modern version (ISBN 0-88404-418-1) bear a new subtitle: "Prediction of Human Behavior". Earlier editions were subtitled "Simplified, Faster Dianetic Techniques".
:
Critics, such as the French Government's Anti-cult interministerial mission, believe that forcibly quarantining all human beings that are classified low on Scientology's tone scale
would be a violation of human rights
.
Furthermore, the book's claims that "adders are safe bedmates compared to people on the lower bands of the tone scale" and that it is one's "level on the tone scale which gives [him or her] value" have also come under fire.
Hubbard has also been criticised for the strong opposition to abortion
that he displays in the book, in which he says that "America spends [billions] yearly on institutions for the insane and jails for criminals ... primarily because of attempted abortions done by some sex-blocked mother to whom children are a curse, not a blessing of God."
, Cuba
, where Hubbard took refuge when his marriage to his second wife Sara Northrup Hubbard broke down. Author Russell Miller claims Hubbard was in an advanced state of mental deterioration at the time of the book's creation, consuming large quantities of alcohol
and addictive prescription drugs, consumed by paranoia
and elaborate persecution complexes relating to a wholly fictional attempt by Communists to ruin Dianetics, and was embroiled in a bitter and often surreal
custody dispute over his then infant child Alexis.
By the time Science of Survival was published, the public popularity of Dianetics had faded and only one Dianetics Foundation - Hubbard Dianetic Research Foundation in Wichita, Kansas
, funded by millionaire Dianeticist Don Purcell - was still in existence. The Wichita Foundation underwrote the costs of printing the book. It recorded poor sales when first published, with only 1,250 copies of the first edition being printed. However, the book has remained in print as a standard reference work of the Church of Scientology
and is listed in their Materials Guide Chart.
A deluxe 50th anniversary revised edition was released in 2001 and a new revised edition in 2007.
L. Ron Hubbard
Lafayette Ronald Hubbard , better known as L. Ron Hubbard , was an American pulp fiction author and religious leader who founded the Church of Scientology...
, extending his earlier writings on Dianetics
Dianetics
Dianetics is a set of ideas and practices regarding the metaphysical relationship between the mind and body that was invented by the science fiction author L. Ron Hubbard and is practiced by followers of Scientology...
. Its original subtitle was "simplified, faster dianetic techniques", although more recent editions have the subtitle "Prediction of human behavior". It is one of the canonical
Canonical
Canonical is an adjective derived from canon. Canon comes from the greek word κανών kanon, "rule" or "measuring stick" , and is used in various meanings....
texts of Scientology
Scientology
Scientology is a body of beliefs and related practices created by science fiction and fantasy author L. Ron Hubbard , starting in 1952, as a successor to his earlier self-help system, Dianetics...
.
The title of Science of Survival alludes to Science and Sanity, a highly popular work by Alfred Korzybski
Alfred Korzybski
Alfred Habdank Skarbek Korzybski was a Polish-American philosopher and scientist. He is remembered for developing the theory of general semantics...
, the founder of general semantics
General Semantics
General semantics is a program begun in the 1920's that seeks to regulate the evaluative operations performed in the human brain. After partial program launches under the trial names "human engineering" and "humanology," Polish-American originator Alfred Korzybski fully launched the program as...
. Hubbard acknowledged Korzybski's contributions in the book.
It has remained perpetually in print over the years, and is currently published by Bridge Publications
Bridge Publications (Scientology)
Bridge Publications, Inc. is a Californian 501 non-profit corporation. It is based in Los Angeles, California, and is the Church of Scientology's North American publishing corporation. It publishes the Scientology and nonfiction works of L. Ron Hubbard...
, Inc. However, elements in the text have changed over the years, with some modern editions no longer containing specific medical claims of Dianetics' ability to cure disease and to increase IQ.
Science of Survival was the follow-up to Hubbard's best-selling Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health
Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health
Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health is a book by L. Ron Hubbard which sets out self-improvement techniques he developed, called Dianetics. The book is also one of the canonical texts of Scientology. It is colloquially referred to as Book One...
. It expanded significantly on Dianetics, setting out what Hubbard called the "dynamics of behaviour" and provided descriptions of new techniques of Dianetics processing that Hubbard described as being faster and simpler than those that he had advanced previously. In the book, Hubbard introduced two concepts that were later to become key elements of Scientology: theta
Theta
Theta is the eighth letter of the Greek alphabet, derived from the Phoenician letter Teth...
and the tone scale
Tone scale
In Scientology, the tone scale or emotional tone scale is a characterization of human behavior. It is based on the idea that some people appear to be more lively and alive than other people. Author L. Ron Hubbard spelled the idea out saying, "just draw a horizontal line on the page...
. He also endorsed the concept of past lives
Past Lives
- Music :* Past Lives , a live album by Black Sabbath* Past Lives , an American post-punk band* Past Lives - The Best of the RCA Years, a compilation by the British musical group Level 42....
.
Tests and results
As Hubbard tells the story in Science of Survival, in 1950 the Hubbard Dianetic Research Foundation agreed to a definitive test of claims demanded by the psychological community who wanted Dianetics to validate its claims. The claims to be tested were increased IQIntelligence quotient
An intelligence quotient, or IQ, is a score derived from one of several different standardized tests designed to assess intelligence. When modern IQ tests are constructed, the mean score within an age group is set to 100 and the standard deviation to 15...
, the relief of psychoses, and the relief of psychosomatic illnesses.
Hubbard said that the tests had been done using psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
's strictest psychometric
Psychometrics
Psychometrics is the field of study concerned with the theory and technique of psychological measurement, which includes the measurement of knowledge, abilities, attitudes, personality traits, and educational measurement...
protocols (Minnesota Multiphasic Test and the Wechsler-Bellevue, "Form B") with examiners Gordon Southon, Peggy Southon and Dalmyra Ibanez, Ph.D., Ed. D. who were said to be registered professional personnel. Hubbard also said that their witnessed signatures were affixed to each bank of tests and that all three claims were validated by these tests and these psychometrists.
January 1951 Hubbard published a booklet by these same alleged doctors: Dianetic Processing - A Brief Survey of Research Projects and Preliminary Results by Dalmyra Ibanez, Ph.D., Ed. D., Gordon Southon, Peggy Southon and Peggy Benton In it, the authors state:
The names of the persons in this "group of psychologists" are not mentioned. The booklet presents case histories and X-Ray
X-ray
X-radiation is a form of electromagnetic radiation. X-rays have a wavelength in the range of 0.01 to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30 petahertz to 30 exahertz and energies in the range 120 eV to 120 keV. They are shorter in wavelength than UV rays and longer than gamma...
s and says that it proves that Dianetics can cure "aberrations" including manic depression
Bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder or bipolar affective disorder, historically known as manic–depressive disorder, is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a category of mood disorders defined by the presence of one or more episodes of abnormally elevated energy levels, cognition, and mood with or without one or...
, asthma
Asthma
Asthma is the common chronic inflammatory disease of the airways characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and bronchospasm. Symptoms include wheezing, coughing, chest tightness, and shortness of breath...
, arthritis
Arthritis
Arthritis is a form of joint disorder that involves inflammation of one or more joints....
, colitis
Colitis
In medicine, colitis refers to an inflammation of the colon and is often used to describe an inflammation of the large intestine .Colitides may be acute and self-limited or chronic, i.e...
and "overt homosexuality
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
." The booklet further says that it used twelve different tests and presents results from five, four of which came from the California Test Bureau and had according to an 1946 investigation of V. E. Ordahl of the University of California
University of California
The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
no evidence of reliability or validity.
Modern reprintings of Science of Survival (post twentieth printing) no longer contain information about this study or mention the alleged IQ gains of about ten points and other similar alleged gains. The modern version (ISBN 0-88404-418-1) bear a new subtitle: "Prediction of Human Behavior". Earlier editions were subtitled "Simplified, Faster Dianetic Techniques".
Body odor and the Tone Scale
In Science of Survival, Hubbard discusses the correlation between body odor, bodily substances, and one's position on the Tone ScaleTone scale
In Scientology, the tone scale or emotional tone scale is a characterization of human behavior. It is based on the idea that some people appear to be more lively and alive than other people. Author L. Ron Hubbard spelled the idea out saying, "just draw a horizontal line on the page...
:
"The body is normally sweet-smelling down
to 2.0 but begins to exude chronically certain unpleasant effluvia
from 2.0 down. Individuals from 2.0 down commonly have bad breath.
Their feet may have a considerable odour. The musk glands are very
active. The sweat has a peculiar smell. Sexual organs emit a repelling
odour. And various body exhaust functions are not under very good
control. The person may have to urinate or defecate under slight
stresses or may weep easily for no apparent cause. This column has
not been added to this chart because it has not been thoroughly
explored but is only known in a general way. Any slightly or
greatly repulsive physical odour from an individual does, however,
indicate a tone scale position below 2.0. It is amusing to note
that in the Orient wives are commonly selected by the sweetness
of their perspiration. This is a very reliable test for position
on the tone scale. People who have bad breath as they are processed
lose it when they are above 2.0 on the tone scale. People who are
temporarily suppressed below 2.0 commonly have bad breath." (pg.146)
Controversy
One passage in particular in Chapter 27 of Science of Survival has been singled out for criticism by opponents of Scientology. In it, Hubbard states thatThe sudden and abrupt deletion of all individuals occupying the lower bands of the tone scale from the social order would result in an almost instant rise in the cultural tone and would interrupt the dwindling spiral into which any society may have entered. It is not necessary to produce a world of clears in order to have a reasonable and worthwhile social order; it is only necessary to delete those individuals who range from 2.0 down, either by processing them enough to get their tone level above the 2.0 line — a task which, indeed, is not very great, since the amount of processing in many cases might be under fifty hours, although it might also in others be in excess of two hundred — or simply quarantining them from the society. A Venezuelan dictator once decided to stop leprosy. He saw that most lepers in his country were also beggars. By the simple expedient of collecting and destroying all the beggars in Venezuela an end was put to leprosy in that country.
Critics, such as the French Government's Anti-cult interministerial mission, believe that forcibly quarantining all human beings that are classified low on Scientology's tone scale
Tone scale
In Scientology, the tone scale or emotional tone scale is a characterization of human behavior. It is based on the idea that some people appear to be more lively and alive than other people. Author L. Ron Hubbard spelled the idea out saying, "just draw a horizontal line on the page...
would be a violation of human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
.
Furthermore, the book's claims that "adders are safe bedmates compared to people on the lower bands of the tone scale" and that it is one's "level on the tone scale which gives [him or her] value" have also come under fire.
Hubbard has also been criticised for the strong opposition to abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
that he displays in the book, in which he says that "America spends [billions] yearly on institutions for the insane and jails for criminals ... primarily because of attempted abortions done by some sex-blocked mother to whom children are a curse, not a blessing of God."
Publication history
The book was published in August 1951 and was originally dedicated to his daughter Alexis Valerie Hubbard (whom he later disowned). It was dictated on SoundScriber discs in HavanaHavana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
, Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
, where Hubbard took refuge when his marriage to his second wife Sara Northrup Hubbard broke down. Author Russell Miller claims Hubbard was in an advanced state of mental deterioration at the time of the book's creation, consuming large quantities of alcohol
Alcohol
In chemistry, an alcohol is an organic compound in which the hydroxy functional group is bound to a carbon atom. In particular, this carbon center should be saturated, having single bonds to three other atoms....
and addictive prescription drugs, consumed by paranoia
Paranoia
Paranoia [] is a thought process believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of irrationality and delusion. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy concerning a perceived threat towards oneself...
and elaborate persecution complexes relating to a wholly fictional attempt by Communists to ruin Dianetics, and was embroiled in a bitter and often surreal
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
custody dispute over his then infant child Alexis.
By the time Science of Survival was published, the public popularity of Dianetics had faded and only one Dianetics Foundation - Hubbard Dianetic Research Foundation in Wichita, Kansas
Wichita, Kansas
Wichita is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas.As of the 2010 census, the city population was 382,368. Located in south-central Kansas on the Arkansas River, Wichita is the county seat of Sedgwick County and the principal city of the Wichita metropolitan area...
, funded by millionaire Dianeticist Don Purcell - was still in existence. The Wichita Foundation underwrote the costs of printing the book. It recorded poor sales when first published, with only 1,250 copies of the first edition being printed. However, the book has remained in print as a standard reference work of the Church of Scientology
Church of Scientology
The Church of Scientology is an organization devoted to the practice and the promotion of the Scientology belief system. The Church of Scientology International is the Church of Scientology's parent organization, and is responsible for the overall ecclesiastical management, dissemination and...
and is listed in their Materials Guide Chart.
A deluxe 50th anniversary revised edition was released in 2001 and a new revised edition in 2007.