The first step, before you do anything interesting, in mathematics is to clarify your terms. Every axiom is stated at length, every edge case considered, theorems and lemmas are painstakingly written down before being distilled into a precise notation that can capture the intended properties.
This attention to language is also an essential part of philosophy. It’s why Plato's dialogues often turn on definitions and most university philosophy courses are structured around a philosophers favourite words. These terms1, or you could equally call them “names”, are often at the root of the whole enterprise.
But the importance of names isn't isolated to these highly technical, exacting fields. If you are running any kind of business or project it is equally the case that you will need to come up with a whole host of names in the process.
Some names are a fun, low impact, ways to ensure a team can cohere. You can give a project a codename or select some silly references for the various meeting rooms in your office2. Other names are stock phrases, useful for building trust and a shared understanding of the world3. Others serve a more critical disciplinary function. Naming a chunk of a codebase or a specific operating procedure for a factory floor.
Getting the naming process right at all these levels of analysis is not easy and is often extremely time consuming4. It’s part of what makes joining a new organisation so difficult. Every time you move there’s a whole new language to learn.
The way this naming process works has a magic quality to it. The name doesn’t exist in the world per se but if you pick just right it can give you great power. This quality of naming has been captured cross-culturally in folk tales, myths, parables, and voodoo rituals as the idea of a True Name - the name that most closely matches a person’s reality.
This dynamic is at the heart of the story of Polyphemus the cyclops that traps Ulysses on his journey home. At first, wisely, when asked by the giant to identify himself Ulysses says that his name is “nobody”. Later though, in a fit of hubris, after he has wounded and escaped from Polyphemus he tells the giant his real name. Polyphemus in that moment calls out to Poseidon cursing Ulysses using this true name and in the process sets him up to be bedevilled by the god for the remainder of his long voyage.
On the other side of the Eurasian continent Confucius too was aware of the power of using the correct names. As he saw it the right name was powerful enough to order the entire state under heaven:
Zilu asked, “If the Duke of Wei were to employ you to serve in the government of his state, what would be your first priority?”
The Master answered, “It would, of course, be the rectification of names.”
Zilu said, “Could you, Master, really be so far off the mark? Why worry about rectifying names?”
The Master replied, “How boorish you are, Zilu! When it comes to matters that he does not understand, the gentleman should remain silent.
“If names are not rectified, speech will not accord with reality; when speech does not accord with reality, things will not be successfully accomplished. When things are not successfully accomplished, ritual practice and music will fail to flourish; when ritual and music fail to flourish, punishments and penalties will miss the mark. And when punishments and penalties miss the mark, the common people will be at a loss as to what to do with themselves.
This is why the gentleman only applies names that can be properly spoken and assures that what he says can be properly put into action. The gentleman simply guards against arbitrariness in his speech. That is all there is to it.”5
Words give us power over nature and the ability to rightly order our societies. Perhaps though words have an even deeper meanings still than this. In Genesis the very first right God grants man is the ability to name the animals.
Now out of the ground the LORD God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field.6
Names matter a lot. Part of the reason for this, as Confucius pointed out, is that every word brings with it a narrative, societal, and philosophical structure.
This structure is highly contextual and depends on the particular history and origin of the word but even more so the audience that hears the name.
You can see this if you think about how you feel about the words “Freedom”, “Equality”, or “Innovation”. These words engender strong responses in the current Western society because they call forth a set of references that would have been entirely absent in other times.
How might a 17th century English Baron engage with the concept of “Freedom” or “Equality” prior to witnessing the French Revolution or the Civil Rights movement in the US? How would a Qing dynasty official think about innovation (创新) without having witnessed a drone swarm over Shanghai?
Whenever we choose a name it is always a process of revisiting the references that tie that word to an existing structure but it is also an opportunity to shape a new meaning. It’s a weighty responsibility, but it is not a process to be feared instead it is one we should embrace.
So, at the outset of any major project when you are first beginning to sketch its contours pay close attention to the names you use whether they are well-worn or novel. Even when these naming decisions seem trivial they can have a much greater impact down the road.
Consider the precedence your names have and what you might be calling forth. Choose names that are bold, storied, and precise. Then work to keep them consistent. Rectify the names and whole world may follow.
“The young gentleman, according to Fates and Destinies and such odd sayings, the Sisters Three and such branches of learning, is indeed deceased; or, as you would say in plain terms, gone to heaven.” - Launcelot The Merchant of Venice Act 2 Scene 2
There are lots of good examples here but some of my favourites: SpaceX uses astronauts, mParticle, a mobile data company based in New York, has famous rappers, Airbnb has their top destinations, and Tim Hortons uses their menu items.
A great example of this is how Jeff Bezos would use “Disagree and Commit”
This is also why companies can become so fond of jargon. It is a lazy way to avoid crafting an apt name. If you put together a set of non-descript words in a semi-intelligble order and then transform them into an acronym it allows you to pass around a unit of information but without the legwork to make that unit of information appropriate to the context.
very interesting topic. worth a read