By "rectification of names" I assume you mean assigning clear and unambiguous meanings to words, or at least to weighty terms like "science" or "cause"? But who could actually do that? The French Academy or a similar body could try, I suppose, within the boundaries of one language, but even then I suspect most people will ignore it. I th…
By "rectification of names" I assume you mean assigning clear and unambiguous meanings to words, or at least to weighty terms like "science" or "cause"? But who could actually do that? The French Academy or a similar body could try, I suppose, within the boundaries of one language, but even then I suspect most people will ignore it. I think it may be feasible in a smaller group, but not on a societal level; at most one can temporarily impose one's definitions by making them official.
Mind you, I sympathise, and I've long entertained similar thoughts myself. Many words used in political discourse (to give another example, "socialism", which means a totalitarian planned economy to some and a market economy with a few public utilities and regulations to others) would be much more useful if they had clear, commonly-accepted definitions. But I am not sure how something like that can be done.
By "rectification of names" I assume you mean assigning clear and unambiguous meanings to words, or at least to weighty terms like "science" or "cause"? But who could actually do that? The French Academy or a similar body could try, I suppose, within the boundaries of one language, but even then I suspect most people will ignore it. I think it may be feasible in a smaller group, but not on a societal level; at most one can temporarily impose one's definitions by making them official.
Mind you, I sympathise, and I've long entertained similar thoughts myself. Many words used in political discourse (to give another example, "socialism", which means a totalitarian planned economy to some and a market economy with a few public utilities and regulations to others) would be much more useful if they had clear, commonly-accepted definitions. But I am not sure how something like that can be done.