Naming and Being Knowledges Identities and Cultural Politics
Chemical Names and the Culture of Modern Chemistry
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Hepler-Smith, E
January 1, 2026
This chapter investigates how the naming of chemicals helped form the identity of chemists and chemistry circa 1900. Chemists refer to chemical substances in three overlapping ways. Rational names describe chemical compositions and structures; systematic names are bound by rules; trivial names are idiosyncratic. While rational and systematic names fit conventional conceptions of naming in science, trivial names were most important in constituting the culture of chemistry. The associative dimension of language, as described by Saussure, helps explain this function of trivial names. Naming in science is not only a politics of knowledge but also a cultural politics of familiarity.
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Hepler-Smith, E. (2026). Chemical Names and the Culture of Modern Chemistry. In Naming and Being Knowledges Identities and Cultural Politics (pp. 271–287). https://doi.org/10.4324/9781032629407-33
Hepler-Smith, E. “Chemical Names and the Culture of Modern Chemistry.” In Naming and Being Knowledges Identities and Cultural Politics, 271–87, 2026. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781032629407-33.
Hepler-Smith E. Chemical Names and the Culture of Modern Chemistry. In: Naming and Being Knowledges Identities and Cultural Politics. 2026. p. 271–87.
Hepler-Smith, E. “Chemical Names and the Culture of Modern Chemistry.” Naming and Being Knowledges Identities and Cultural Politics, 2026, pp. 271–87. Scopus, doi:10.4324/9781032629407-33.
Hepler-Smith E. Chemical Names and the Culture of Modern Chemistry. Naming and Being Knowledges Identities and Cultural Politics. 2026. p. 271–287.