Postmodernsest nimepillamisest
On Postmodern Namedropping

Summary/Abstract: Today's postmodern social discourse is relentlessly obsessed with naming and "namedropping". Proper names (mainly brand names) quickly multiply around us, designating objects with a relatively microscopic differences in material function or content. These objects now mainly differ by name and the symbolic fields behind those names. Many proper names have become "self-sufficient" – having incorporated in themselves the function of a common name. These names now designate objects which represent a species of their own and are fully describable only by using that name. In the postmodern condition, the subject's basic intuition is oriented towards differentiation rather than the essence, and reference is often made towards the symbolic field behind the name, rather than the material properties or functions of the object. The present article tries to describe the postmodern condition of names in culture and literature in terms of some well-known theories of reference (Bertrand Russell, Saul A. Kripke).

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