Abstract
The act of “naming” something has throughout history often been linked to the exertion of power over the thing named. This concept is found in almost all cultures. In mathematics, “naming” plays an essential role because mathematical objects that have not yet been named are difficult to work with. Many great mathematicians have placed emphasis on “naming” as the path toward gaining control over the objects they just conceived, including Alexander Grothendieck and Nikolai Luzin (the latter the founder of the Moscow School of Mathematics). Luzin's approach to naming mathematical objects was original: he believed that the act involved both gains and losses. On the one hand, he gained control through naming. On the other hand, he believed that he lost “the foggy and dark parts that our intuition whispers to us.” Luzin was heavily influenced by the religious heresy “Name-Worshipping” in his development of Descriptive Set Theory. Name Worshippers believed that the name of God IS God. This influence has been largely missed by historians of mathematics because it has been condemned by two of the most powerful institutions in recent Russian history: the Orthodox Church and the Communist Party.
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