Concepts

“The name is the thing, and the true name is the true thing. To speak the name is to control the thing.” — Ursula K. Le Guin, The Rule of Names

Fairy tales, religions, and magickal traditions tell us that knowing the name of something is important, it gives us power over it. I believe there is an important kernel of truth to the idea.

Naming something gives you the power to think about it, conjure it back to mind, examine it, dissect it and use it in novel ways. It suddenly becomes a concept you can take into account consciously.

For example, if you are taught the concept of a false dichotomy, you can now identify when someone uses it to argue for a position, realize when you are using it, and start working on not limiting yourself to binary outcomes.

This list is dedicated to ideas that once named and put into words have changed my thinking in small ways (I am convinced that there are concepts that have changed my thinking in radical ways, but I suspect that those changes are so large that I, paradoxically, am not noticing them consciously).