Die Benennung der Welt

Abstract

Humans order their world by assigning names, that is, by means of “designation”. We name children, fellow humans, animals and plants according to our respective language. And we can just as easily extinguish a name if it strikes us as the appropriate thing to do. This is the also the task of philosophy: to grasp the world via the right “concepts”, a reduction of complexity through naming. To “grasp” the world also means to master it. In this respect, the assignment of names and titles as well as the strict connexion of a name with a bodily person (identity) is a characteristic means or instrument of domination tied to the modern state.]