Johnson M. W. (2025) Naming Naming. Constructivist Foundations 20(2): 92

Naming Naming

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Abstract

Open peer commentary on the article “Cybernetics of Language - From Naming to Naming the Self” by Louis H. Kauffman. Abstract: Naming naming invokes a distinction between self-reference and the emergent dance by which names arise and are learnt. To consider the latter, I consider those cases where names emerge from where there are no names: the baby’s “Mama,” musical expression, or a protein’s topological structure. Each case is characterised by some inherent instability, which the target article identifies as Gödelian uncertainty emerging from self-reference. Considering the topological argument at the end of the target article, I speculate whether it is a failure to apprehend three-dimensional topology, which underlies Gödelian incompleteness, and I discuss how this relates to cybernetic variety management.

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Johnson M. W. (2025) Naming naming. Constructivist Foundations 20(2): 92–94. https://constructivist.info/20/2/092 Copy Citation

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