In Dixieland, ‘nominalism’ is a dirty word. This is because, as Richard Weaver noticed, it is an act of aggression against creatures and things of all kinds in the world, removing any notion of a fixed meaning and nature from them and imposing new ones on a whim. Nominalism is ‘the notion that nature has no essential independence or meaning.’ It is a ‘method of imposing the pattern of one’s mind . . . of striving for mastery over the environment’ (‘Two Diarists,’ In Defense of Tradition, ed. Ted J. Smith III, Liberty Fund, Indianapolis, 2000, pgs. 731, 727).
This is the principle that is at work in President Trump’s renaming of several United States Army bases that were once named for Confederate officers. He has made a great fuss over the fact that he is restoring the original names of these bases that the woke Biden regime changed. But that is a half-truth at best, as we have seen already with Ft Benning and Ft Bragg. He and his own regime have since completed the act of deception. Via CBS News:
- Fort Gordon, in Georgia: originally named after Confederate John Brown Gordon, renamed in 2023 to Fort Eisenhower after President Dwight Eisenhower — will now honor Master Sgt. Gary I. Gordon, a Medal of Honor recipient who fought in Somalia.
- Fort A.P. Hill, in Virginia: originally named after Ambrose Powell Hill, renamed in 2023 to Fort Walker after Dr. Mary Walker — will now honor three Civil War Medal of Honor recipients, Lt. Col. Edward Hill, 1st Sgt. Robert A. Pinn and Pvt. Bruce Anderson.
- Fort Hood, in Texas: originally named after John Bell Hood, renamed in 2023 to Fort Cavazos after Gen. Richard Cavazos — will now honor a World War I hero, Col. Robert B. Hood.
- Fort Lee, in Virginia: originally named after Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, renamed in 2023 to Fort Gregg-Adams after Lt. Gen. Arthur Gregg and Lt. Col. Charity Adams — will now honor Pvt. Fitz Lee, commended for heroism in the Spanish-American War.
- Fort Pickett, in Virginia: originally named after George Edward Pickett, renamed in 2023 to Fort Barfoot after Tech. Sgt. Van T. Barfoot — will now honor 1st. Lt. Vernon W. Pickett, decorated for extraordinary heroism in World War II.
- Fort Polk, in Louisiana: originally named after Leonidas Polk, renamed in 2023 to Fort Johnson after Sgt. William Henry Johnson — will now honor Gen. James H. Polk, a WWII officer who later commanded U.S. Army Europe.
- Fort Rucker, in Alabama: originally named after Edmund Winchester Rucker, renamed in 2023 to Fort Novosel after Chief Warrant Officer 4 Michael J. Novosel, Sr. — will now honor WWI aviator Capt. Edward W. Rucker.
Now, the act of naming is not a haphazard, trivial action as Team Trump seems to think it is. There is a deep ontological dimension to it. Turning to Professor Weaver once again:
‘The naming of the beasts and the fowls was one of the most important steps in creation. Adam helped to order the universe when he dealt out these names, and let us not overlook what is implied in the assertion that the names stuck. There is the intimation of divine approval, which would frown upon capricious change. A name is not just an accident; neither is it a convention which can be repealed by majority vote at the next meeting; once a thing has been given a name, it appears to have a certain autonomous right to that name, so that it could not be changed without imperiling the foundations of the world’ (‘To Write the Truth,’ Language Is Sermonic, eds. Eubanks, Johannesen, Strickland, LSU Press, Baton Rouge, 1970, pgs. 192-3).
The Holy Fathers of the Church add their own particular weight to the significance of naming –
St Ephraim the Syrian (4th century): ‘It is not impossible for a man to discover a few names and keep them in his memory. But it surpasses the power of human nature, and is difficult for him, to discover in a single hour thousands of names and not to give the last of those named the names of the first. . . . This is the work of God, and if it was done by man, it was given him by God’ (Father Seraphim Rose, Genesis, Creation, and Early Man: The Orthodox Christian Vision, 2nd edition, ed. Hieromonk Damascene, St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, Platina, Cal., 2011, p. 235).
St John Chrysostom (4th-5th centuries): ‘The names which Adam gave them remain until now; God confirmed them so that we might constantly remember the honor which man received from the Lord of all when he received the animals under his authority, and might ascribe the reason for the removal (of this honor) to man himself, who lost his authority through sin’ (Ibid., p. 238).
Martyr-Priest Fr Daniel Sysoev (20th-21st centuries): ‘Thus, through naming the animals Adam acquired power over them, and for the animals themselves was revealed the design and purpose toward which Adam was to lead each of them. . . . These names were not given by chance. But Adam, being permeated by the power of the Spirit, delved into God’s very design for each creature and expressed it by the medium of sound’ (A Chronicle of the Beginning, trans. Priest Nathan Williams, Daniel Sysoev Inc, New Jersey, 2023, p. 123).
The way Pres Trump has proceeded with the base renaming violates the norms spelled out by Prof Weaver and reinforced by the teachers of the Church. By giving each of the Army bases referred to above the name of a Confederate soldier those many decades ago, a label was not simply placed upon a plot of ground and its buildings: The inner nature of that place was revealed, a nature tied in a mysterious way to the nature of the one for whom it was named, a nature that passes on to all those who live and train there. Pres Trump’s attempt to both keep the outer form of the name while changing the inner substance of it (i.e., renaming Ft Polk after James Polk instead of Leonidas Polk, etc.) is an assault upon the integrity of the cosmos. To repeat a line of Prof Weaver’s from above: ‘[O]nce a thing has been given a name, it appears to have a certain autonomous right to that name, so that it could not be changed without imperiling the foundations of the world.’
Trump is fully in alignment with this statement when he says that a man cannot ‘transition’ to a woman and vice versa, but he breaches it just as badly by declaring that Ft (Robert) Hood is the same as Ft (John Bell) Hood and so on. The latter are rank acts of both nominalism and hubris. And acts of hubris inevitably invite a correcting nemesis:
‘Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap’ (St Paul’s Letter to the Galatians 6:7).
Let those who have ears to hear understand:
‘And therein we find, neglected by us, the simplest, the most accessible key to our liberation: a personal nonparticipation in lies! Even if all is covered by lies, even if all is under their rule, let us resist in the smallest way: Let their rule hold not through me!
And this is the way to break out of the imaginary encirclement of our inertness, the easiest way for us and the most devastating for the lies. For when people renounce lies, lies simply cease to exist. Like parasites, they can only survive when attached to a person. . . . Our way must be: Never knowingly support lies! Having understood where the lies begin (and many see this line differently)—step back from that gangrenous edge! Let us not glue back the flaking scales of the Ideology, not gather back its crumbling bones, nor patch together its decomposing garb, and we will be amazed how swiftly and helplessly the lies will fall away, and that which is destined to be naked will be exposed as such to the world’ (Alexander Solzhenitsyn, ‘Live Not by Lies,’ 12 Feb. 1974).
The views expressed at AbbevilleInstitute.org are not necessarily the views of the Abbeville Institute.
I plead guilty to nominalism. When the Wokelings were about to remove “Stonewall” Jackson’s statue from in front of the VMI barracks, I suggested that the statue be considered that of Michael Jackson and left in place, and then have the first year “Rats” moon-walk the “Rat Line.” The Wokelings were evidently not amused.
The National Defense Authorization Act of 2021 prohibits by law naming the bases for Confederates. It was passed by the House and Senate, vetoed by Donald Trump, both chambers over-riding his veto.
I take as consolation Trump’s positive mention of “Robert E. Lee” when he announced the reversion – but am disappointed Ft. Lee wasn’t named for his Daddy.
My disappointment in Trump’s half-measures has been mitigated. Something called Alabama Political Reporter is mad at the President for renaming the bases. They say he should focus on what he was elected to do – “lower costs and tackle inflation”. It’s certain Alabama Political Reporter is behind every Trump initiative, otherwise.
On the other hand, political appointee Ty Seidule is mad because Trump is “overturning the will of the American people through their elected representatives who set up the Naming Commission,” finishing with Leftist politi-speak, “true American heroes who fought for our great nation and reflect the best of our values.” If these wusses are mad, Trump apparently did good.
A few years ago or so, Magruder Blvd in Hampton, Va – Tabb – York County was changed to Neil Armstrong Pkwy. I don’t think they’re going to reconsider that change.
My goodness, how terms get misappropriated over time. Nominalism is really a metaphysical philosophical term. It means that there are no groups of things like genera in species in nature, but only individual things. Thomas Jefferson was a metaphysical or scientific nominalist. The argument for scientific or metaphysical nominalism is merely that if there really are criteria by which we can distinguish some sort of things see species from other sorts of species, then we ought to be able to spell out those criteria in ways such that one group of things is substantially distinct from the other. The nominal list in that regard is merely arguing that lacking any definitive criteria by which we can separate off one group of things say plants from another group of things say animals in the best we can say is that there are only individual things in the groups or the groupings of things that we apply to existence is is arbitrary it’s funny overtime how people misappropriate terms with precise meanings.
i have cardinals in my backyard…i also have brown thrashers…they both can fly but their appearance and method of gathering food and nesting habits are quite different. its a regular observation.
So, how would Walt Garlington propose changing the names of these places back to those of the Confederate heroes? I would bet he would NOT propose changing them back. Mr. Trump, in an attempt, to try and restore the country to the pre-wokist, “normal” America, made use of a little nominalist sleight-of-hand, perhaps in an attempt to achieve some kind of consenus.
And I’m sure, the man, having a lot more vital and pressing issues on his plate, is leaving the purist character of name restoration to some future offspring of armchair critics, maybe even offspring of Walt Garlington himself.
A hypothetical, and probably likely, conversation:
“Oh wow! They changed the name of the fort back to General John B. Hood?” “No, when they changed the name, again, instead of giving it back to the Confederate General, they named it after a World War I hero, Col. Robert B. Hood. It was looked at as a compromise, I guess.” “Really? Seems a strange compromise to me.”
With all due respect to Col. Robert B. Hood, I don’t think what was done was a good resolution.
I personally cheered up considerably when I heard (incorrectly) that Ft. Hood was being “changed back to the original name”, this from some fuming liberals. And like many here I was quite depressed to hear that it was a half-measure that did not restore to the forts their original names but merely a name alike – perhaps the biggest slap-in-the-face of all being that in many cases the name-alike was not even from the South or with any historical ties to the region.
But we ought to be consistent on whether we want a dictator for a president or not. After all Trump tried his best to stop the ridiculous woke anti-South and ultimately anti-American clause in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2021 which is an open declaration of war on the Southern tradition and history. He vetoed it but was outvoted by the libs and the lib-brainwashed-conservatives. To just tear up what Congress has passed is a step which I would personally enjoy in this case but quite likely beyond the reaches of presidential power, as I understand it. If we are to see any meaningful justice done in this case, it can only come by turning the public dialogue around enough where we get back enough conservatives on our side to allow a friendly president (and Trump has shown a lot of spine in daring to defend the great General Lee in these stupid times) to truly rectify the situation.
IMO, Mr. Trump and his advisors are engaging in a bit of “Southern Nuance” on our part which I am grateful for, although I agree with the premise of this article. American Indians had very specific names for a multitude of plant variants within the same species. As such they were able to maintain some pretty impressive cures – e.g. actually being able to cure diabetes, epilepsy and many more. No nominalism
But it is what it is, so where I sit, I’ll take what I can get – but am grateful to Abbeville for it’s dedication to the truth
We all know who the bases are named after…and we know Arlington National Cemetery is the Custis-Lee Family Cemetery.