The aim of the following master's thesis is to illuminate the complex relation between an individual and their proper name. We first demonstrate that a name is never neutral and without connotations. A specific relation towards one's own name develops in the early childhood. If one of the main goals in a neoliberal society is to “become somebody” or “be a name”, the thing that becomes important is what is behind said name. The attitude towards one’s name and the self, which is being constructed continually, becomes pathological. We situate the beginning of the wish “to be a name” to the Enlightenment, which is shown via Rousseau. The media apparatus slowly became stronger in the Enlightenment and with that the birth of the celebrity culture. What we observe today is the amplification of the image of society that started to develop in the Enlightenment and which occurred due to the development of social media and the internet. Nowadays, anyone can “become a name”, and if they fail, they are the one to blame. First, we trace this through discovering what a proper name is. Then, we focus on the relationship between a name and an autobiography. On the basis of this relationship, we explore the relation between and the name and the individual of the Enlightenment. At last, we try to research the mechanism of social media through psychoanalysis.
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