Naming the people: an analysis of the appropriation of Kripke's theses by Laclau

Abstract

This article problematizes Laclau’s appropriation of Kripke’s philosophy of language as a key aspect of naming in the constitution of political subjectivity and the formation of populist theory. It offers a critical assessment of Laclau’s adoption of Saul Kripke’s thesis on rigid designators, structured around three main axes: 1) an exposition of the theoretical framework developed by Laclau; 2) an introduction to Kripkean anti-descriptivism and its implications concerning essence, necessity, and causality; and 3) an analysis of how Kripke’s concepts are incorporated into Laclau’s theoretical architecture. The article concludes that the importation of the thesis of rigid designators is ultimately at odds with Laclau’s own theoretical commitments and proposes an anti-deterministic strategy for rethinking the act of naming.