@philosophyminis: Why is it so annoying if somebody gets your name wrong? I used to work with somebody who would always call me John, but my name is Jonny. I have never called myself John, and yet he would persist in calling me that again, and again. If somebody repeatedly, or even deliberately, gets your name wrong, it can range from being frustrating to deeply upsetting. And Hegel can tell us why. Because Hegel argued that everybody needs to be recognised by another consciousness. We need to be seen in the eyes of another because we do not live as islands, but we live connected with other people. But the deeper issue is that we want to be seen by others in the way that we want to be seen. When I say, ‘My name is Jonny,’ that’s how I want others to recognise me. But the wilful and repeated misnaming of somebody is a way to force them into being something you want them to be, and not how you are. Hegel argued that one of the greatest tensions in all human interactions is the struggle between how I want to be seen, and how others want to see me. If somebody calls you lazy, or sporty, or smart, or dumb, that is a projection, and their projection does not match how you want to be seen. And so, names are important. How we present ourselves is important because not only do we need to have an identity, we need that identity to be recognised and seen by others.

Jonny Thomson

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Region: GB

Saturday 08 August 2026 14:13:51 GMT