The Name
LĂ se noue toute lâexpĂ©rience classique du langage : le caractĂšre rĂ©versible de lâanalyse grammaticale qui est, dâun seul tenant, science et prescription, Ă©tude des mots et rĂšgle pour les bĂątir, les utiliser, les rĂ©former dans leur fonction reprĂ©sentative ; le nominalisme fondamental de la philosophie depuis Hobbes jusquâĂ lâIdĂ©ologie, nominalisme qui nâest pas sĂ©parable dâune critique du langage et de toute cette mĂ©fiance Ă lâĂ©gard des mots gĂ©nĂ©raux et abstraits quâon trouve chez Malebranche, chez Berkeley, chez Condillac et chez Hume ; la grande utopie dâun langage parfaitement transparent oĂč les chose elles-mĂȘmes seraient nommĂ©es sand brouillage, soit par un systĂšme totalement arbitraire, mais exactement rĂ©flĂ©chi (langue artificielle), soit par un langage si naturel quâil traduirait la pensĂ©e comme le visage quand il exprime une passion (câest de ce langage fait de signes immĂ©diats que Rousseau a rĂȘvĂ© au premier de ses Dialogues). On peut dire que câest le Nom qui organise tout le discours classique ; parler ou Ă©crire, ce nâest pas dire les chose ou sâexprimer, ce nâest pas jouer avec le langage, câest sâacheminer vers lâacte souverain de nomination, aller, Ă travers le langage, jusque vers le lieu oĂč les chose et les mots se nouent en leur essence commune, et qui permet de leur donner un nom. (Foucault, 1966)
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This is the nexus of the entire Classical experience of language: the reversible character of grammatical analysis, which is at one and the same time science and prescription, a study of words and a rule for constructing them, employing them, and remoulding them into their representative function; the fundamental nominalism of philosophy from Hobbes to Ideology, a nominalism that is inseparable from a critique of language and from all that mistrust with regard to general and abstract words that we find in Malebranche, Berkeley, Condillac, and Hume; the great utopia of a perfectly transparent language in which things themselves could be named without any penumbra of confusion, either by a totally arbitrary but precisely thought-out system (artificial language), or by a language so natural that it would translate thought like a face expressing a passion (it was this language of immediate sign that Rousseau dreamed of in the first of his Dialogues). One might say that it is the Name, that organizes all Classical discourse; to speak or to write is not to say things or to express oneself, it is not a matter of playing with language, it is to make oneâs way towards the sovereign act of nomination, to move, through language, towards the place where things and words are conjoined in their common essence, and which makes it possible to give them a name. (Foucault, 1994)
After having read lots of later of Foucault (mostly his lectures that touch on governmentality) Iâd never really taken the time to read the book that catapulted him to fame: The Order of Things, or the original title, Les Mots et les Choses. How different are these titles? I personally think they made a mistake not using a more literal translation: Words and Things.
Since Iâm in no particular rush Iâve been trying to revive the little French I learned in high school, by reading in English, but taking a look at the original French when I run across a section I really like. Even for a novice like me, the French has a different luminous qualityâmaybe thatâs true of the language in general thoughâŠ
One thing that struck me here when reading the original French is the translation of noue as nexus in the first sentence. The verb nouer is to start or tie a knot, whereas se nouer is the point at which the strands of a plot come together. I guess nexus works alright. But the translation totally misses the mirroring that happens between se noue in the first sentence and se nouent in the last sentence:
⊠to move, through language, towards the place where things and words are conjoined in their common essence and which makes it possible to give them a name.
⊠aller, Ă travers le langage, jusque vers le lieu oĂč les chose et les mots se nouent en leur essence commune et qui permet de leur donner un nom.
Also lost is in translation is the idea of their start together: words and things.