In search of names - Many Minds
- Rating
-
- Fav.
- Waveform
-
- Action
-
- Link
- Title
- In search of names
- Description
- <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Alright, friends—we've come to the end of the 2025 run of <em>Many Minds</em>!</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Our final episode of the year is an audio essay by yours truly. This is a classic format for the show, one that we only do every so often. Today's essay is about names. It's about the question of whether animals have something like names for each other. And it's also about a deeper question: What even is a name? How do humans use names? How does the historical and ethnographic record kind of complicate our everyday understanding of what names are. I had a lot of fun putting this together, and I do hope you enjoy it.</span><span class= "s1"> </span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Now, the holiday season is a time when people might be shopping around for new podcasts to listen to. That makes it a great time to recommend us to your friends and family and colleagues. You can think of it as an especially thoughtful gift, one that's absolutely free, and that keeps on giving throughout the year. </span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Speaking of gifts, as an addendum to this episode you'll find a little stocking stuffer after the credits. It's a reading of a poem that figures prominently in today's essay. </span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Without further ado, here is my essay—'In search of names.' Enjoy!</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"> </span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><em>A text version of this essay will be published shortly.</em></span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><em> </em></span></p> <p class="p1"><span style= "text-decoration: underline;"><span class="s2"><em>Notes</em></span></span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">2:00 – The text of 'The Naming of Cats' by T.S. Eliot is <a href= "https://poets.org/poem/naming-cats"><span class= "s2">here</span></a>. See also the full collection, <a href= "https://gutenberg.ca/ebooks/eliotts-practicalcats/eliotts-practicalcats-01-h.html"> <span class="s2"><em>Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats</em></span></a>. The lines about cats' taste preferences and cats having different kinds of minds comes from another poem in the collection, '<a href= "https://www.themarginalian.org/2013/06/04/t-s-eliot-reads-t-s-eliot-the-ad-dressing-of-cats-1947/"><span class="s2">The Ad-Dressing of Cats</span></a>.'</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">3:00 – The <a href= "https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-40616-4"><span class= "s2">2019 study</span></a> finding that cats know their names, and the <a href= "https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-10261-5"><span class= "s2">2022 study</span></a> showing that cats know the names of their friends.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">4:00 – For an overview of research on dolphin "signature whistles," see <a href= "https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00359-013-0817-7"><span class="s2"> here</span></a>.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">5:00 – For the 2024 study reporting name-like rumbles in elephants, see <a href= "https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-024-02420-w"><span class= "s2">here</span></a>. </span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">6:00 – For the 2024 study reporting vocal labels for individuals in marmosets, see <a href= "https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.adp3757"><span class="s2"> here</span></a>. A critical response to the study is <a href= "https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/s13420-024-00662-z"><span class="s2"> here</span></a>; the authors' response to the criticism is <a href= "https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/s13420-025-00682-3"><span class="s2"> here</span></a>.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">12:00 – For overviews of cross-cultural variation in names and naming practices, see <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/chapter/bookseries/pii/S0079742110530093?casa_token=goH3zVlTjzkAAAAA:QSEBTgyYrCf-LA6rcwViyDFURa_NPxhi0XF-g21EJ6wjxoz-_1SLrvt4N23nYFhMqO_yWL7A00A"> <span class="s2">here</span></a>, <a href= "https://www.jbe-platform.com/content/jo
- Publication Date
- 2025-12-18T01:07:00+00:00
- Status
- completed
- Website
- https://manyminds.libsyn.com/in-search-of-names
- Length
- 28:33
- File
- /podcasts/Many Minds/1766020020-5209.mp3
- Size
- 39.21 MB
- Bitrate
- 187-CBR
- Channels
- 1
Queries: 25 | Cache Hits: 0 | Load Time: 0.0623 | 2 MB