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A Rose by Any Other Name
On the Relationship Between Names, Objects, and Mental Images
What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet — Juliet
I don’t know about you, but I have always wondered about these famous lines from Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare. This phrase, now cemented in our cultural minds, claims that words and their meanings lack a necessary connection. In other words, no matter what we call a rose, it will still look and smell the same way.
I think it is obvious that simply changing the name of a rose will not change its color, smell or any other physical characteristic. However, what if there were aspects of a rose that would change if its name were different? For example, would a rose still be the cultural symbol for love and romance that it is if its name was ‘obturglob’?
In this article, we will explore the different views about the relationship between names and their meaning. We will start by looking at ancient views before moving to more modern views. In the end, I hope that we can arrive at a more nuanced position regarding names and their objects.
