Nomination

When Barthes speaks of the Name as ‘the last trace that remains of things’, what does he mean? A mere appellation that has no material reality – how can such a thing be said to be a trace? (After all, we think of trace as a material residue).

Barthes proposition is explained with reference to the ship Argos. Gradually, and over years, each piece of the ship wears out and is replaced. Eventually not a single piece, a single pin, of the original ship remains. And yet, we are happy saying it is the same ship. What has remained the same, among other things, is the Name. A primal baptism bestowed upon the ship its identity – Argos: it is this name which binds together the ship through all its subsequent incarnations and adventures, even after it is no longer materially identical.



The name is not the only principle of identity. What also remained the same, perhaps, is the function of the ship, its place in a network of relations, the way people use it and the role it plays in their lives. Its identity resides here too, outside it in its context, in terms of the object it is for others. But these too pass away, are subject to time and history. The name is left behind, and this, partly, accounts for the aura of names.