Samuel Swenson-Reinhold: Naming & Knowing

 Once again, I'm going to be referencing my favorite book of all time, The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. One of the key elements of Kvothe's character is his desire to learn the 'name' of things - when you learn the name of something, you have control over it. However, learning the name of the wind, for example, is something incredibly difficult. You have to understand the nature of the wind, you have to know it. So knowing the word "wind" doesn't mean you have power over it. It requires this almost Heideggerian conception of listening and knowing the world and nature. 

Kvothe grows in his understanding of the world and at one point learns the name of lightning and the wind, allowing him to wield immense power. This particular aspect of Rothfuss' fantasy had me thinking about our conversations in class about how we 'name' and label things in the prosaic. We think we "know" something, but really we are making an observation. It's like the quote, "I'm not a concept." It also makes me think of Kierkegaard's statement, "Once you label me, you negate me." While these are ancillary connections, I do believe that Rothfuss is getting at one of the bigger lessons from class: without listening and participating in the world and our shared stories, we never truly know something. True knowing comes from lived experience and a giving up of our mental schemas and preconceptions; we have to open ourselves up to the world. Which is what I believe that C.S. Lewis really wanted for his audience to understand. 

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