The Japanese Society for Aesthetics

Aesthetics No.25 (2021): 24-36

A. G. Baumgarten and G. F. Meieron Proper Names and their Poetic Effect*
IOKU Yoko
Tokyo University of the Arts, Tokyo

Introduction
Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten (1714–1762), the Leibniz-Wolffian philosopher, foundedaesthetics as a philosophical discipline. He attempted to include beauty, art, and sensibility—
which appear as individual concrete things—into the subject of philosophy, while incorporating
the logical and mathematical argumentation methods introduced by Christian Wolff (1679–1754),
the vanguard of Enlightenment rationalism. Baeumler characterized eighteenth-century German
philosophy prior to Kant as encapsulating two tendencies—Wolff’s tendency toward abstraction
and Baumgarten’s focus on the individual—and called Baumgarten’s aesthetics “Logic of the
Individual” (Logik des Individuellen) (Baeumler 1974, 208; 212). An eye for the individual is theessence of Wolffian aesthetics.
This paper discusses the problem of the individual in Wolffian aesthetics, especially that ofproper names, from the perspective of its representation of the individual in literary works.
Previous studies have frequently indicated that Baumgarten describes the individual and its sign,
the proper name, as “extremely poetic” in his habilitation thesis Philosophical Reflections on
Several Issues Concerning Poetry (1735). However, what has not been examined in detail is thetype of effect the proper name has in poetry.1 The paper further clarifies the Wolffian theory ofproper names by focusing on the work of Baumgarten’s disciple, Georg Friedrich Meier (1718–
1777), who elaborates on what is not explicitly stated by Baumgarten. His theory can help us
examine the poetic effect of proper names. Meier is often underestimated as a “trivializer” or“popularizer” of his master: his texts have often been regarded as a guide to reading Baumgarten’s
few writings and have never been examined in the debate on proper names. However, this paper
clarifies the vital role Meier plays in the theory of proper names.
* This paper is based on the Japanese version printed in Bigaku 70/1 (2019): 1-12, published by the JapaneseSociety for Aesthetics.
1
There are insightful studies that precisely summarize Baumgarten’s theory on individuals, such as Pimpinella(2000, 226f.) and Campe (2014, 131f.). However, Baumgarten’s statement that proper names are poetic because
individuals have complete determination is often merely repeated. This is due to the lack of description by
Baumgarten, as pointed out in Section 1 of this paper. Peres (2000, 227) explains that while representations ofindividuals and proper names, as logical expressions, fall into “double defects,” sacrificing intensive and extensive
clarity (i.e., distinctness and the fullness of notes), they escape these defects as aesthetic expressions. While this isparticularly important, more detailed explanations have not been provided. Bahr (2004, 97f.) also refers to theindividual in a discussion on Baumgarten’s thoughts of abstraction and concreteness. Further, Bahr characterizes
Baumgarten’s concept of the individual in three ways: concreteness, inexhaustible complexity, and potentiality.
Though the latter two ways are roughly in line with the view argued in this paper, based on Meier in Section 3, Bahr’s
argument merely relies on the concept of complete determination applied to individuals (S. 97).

A. G. Baumgarten and G. F. Meier on Proper Names and their Poetic Effect25

Section 1 summarizes Baumgarten’s views on individuals and proper names, and makes clearthat a gap still exists in the application of ontological concepts to aesthetic problems. To bridge
this gap, Section 2 argues Meier’s definition of proper names as a form of “emphasis.” Section 3
focuses on Meier’s statement that the representation of an individual contains a mathematicallyinfinite number of notes. Relying on Meier, an explanation is provided for the poetic effect ofproper names, which was unwritten in Baumgarten.

1. Strengths derived from complete determination
Both Baumgarten and Meier recommend representing the individual (individuum) inliterature with particular emphasis on the proper names (nomina propria). This claim is groundedin two concepts: the “complete determination” (omnimoda determinatio) of the individual in
ontology, and the “extensive clarity” (claritas extensiva) of representation in empirical
psychology. These are developed in Baumgarten’s main work Metaphysics (first edition 1739,
fourth edition 1757), in Part I “Ontology” and Part III “Psychology,” respectively, and in
Reflections, wherein he first proposed the idea of aesthetics. This section organizes the path that
Baumgarten uses in these texts, to insist that the representations of individuals and proper names
are highly “poetic” (poeticus) or “strong” (fortis).
First, we summarize the ontological or logical concept of “complete determination.” In
Wolffianism ontology, individuals are distinguished from universals as being “completely
determined” (omnimode determinatum) (MT4 § 148),2 whereas genera or species can be applied
to more than one entity because they have undetermined parts. A determination means a “note”(nota) or a “character” of a thing (MT4 § 36; § 67). It is important to note that complete
determination does not simply indicate an abundance of determinations, but that every individual
should include all events, actions, and states that relate to oneself in the past, present, and future,in advance.3 Because determination is also called “predicate” (praedicatum) (MT4 § 36) and isoften considered in the propositional model, the concept of the complete determination ofindividuals can be logically explained as follows: the concept of a certain individual contains, inadvance and without omission, the concepts that can become predicates in a true proposition thathas the individual as its subject. In Section 3, we discuss whether we can and should recognize
all determinations of each individual.
Meanwhile, we examine the epistemological concept of “extensive clarity.” In the empirical
psychology of Wolffianism, cognition is divided into three broad categories—“clear and distinct,”“clear and confused,” and “obscure”—and cognition is said to be more perfect in this order (cf.
PE §§ 31f.; §§ 38f.; DM §§ 198-215; MT4 § 510; §§ 520f.; MK2 § 485). Gottfried Wilhelm
Leibniz (1646–1716) and Wolff placed distinctness at the top of the hierarchy. Wolff explicitly
2
Baumgarten’s definition of complete determination is “[t]he collection of all determinations compossible in abeing” (MT4 § 148). “Compossible” means that the mutually contradictory predicates of a certain subject, A andnon-A, do not exist at the same time (MT4 § 7). Hence, “the collection of all determinations compossible” can besaid to be the collection of true predicates for a subject. A similar definition also can be found in Wolff’s Logic (LL§ 75; cf. LO §§ 225f.).
3
Cf. Leibniz (1686, § 3; §§ 8-9).

IOKU Yoko

26sought to arrive at “clear and distinct” cognitions, dismissing the “clear and confused” and“obscure” ones as uncertain (DM § 281). Following their categorization, Baumgarten insisted
that the hierarchy can be reversed by introducing the following criterion: the force of cognition
is proportional to the number of notes. In contrast to Wolff, Baumgarten believed that confused
representations can be higher in strength than distinct representations, or obscure representations
are higher than clear representations. The following citation is from Chapter 1 of “Empirical
Psychology,” in Part 3 of Metaphysics:
The more notes a perception [i.e., cognition] embraces, the stronger it is. Hence, an obscure
perception comprehending more notes than a clear one is stronger than the latter, and a
confused perception comprehending more notes than a distinct one is stronger than thelatter. (MT4 § 517)4
When a clear and confused representation contains many notes, Baumgarten calls it an“extensively clearer” (extensive clarior) representation (MP § 16), and the clarity of this strong
representation is referred to as “extensively greater clarity” (claritas extensive maior) (MT4 §531). In contrast, Wolff viewed clear and confused cognitions negatively because of the “lack ofa further degree of clarity” that would lead to distinctness: that is, due to their cluttered aspect(DM §§ 214f.). Baumgarten, however, views them positively because these cognitions can havetheir own clarity, owing to the fullness of the mingled notes.
Baumgarten expresses the character of extensive clarity as “lively” (vividus) (MT4 § 531).
He introduced the concept of extensive clarity in Reflections, his thesis on poetry; therefore, his
first use of this concept was to describe the features of poetic language. In Reflections, anextensively clearer representation, that is, a clear and confused representation that comprehends
many notes, is said to be “poetic” rather than “strong” (MP § 17). Hence, using the word “strong”
for clear and confused representations can be read as full, lively, poetic, or aesthetic.
Combining the above notions of complete determination and extensive clarity in his work
Reflections, Baumgarten proposes the rule that the representations of an individual and the use of
an individual’s sign, the proper name, are highly poetic. According to him, it is “maximally poetic”
that we have an exceedingly high degree of extensive clarity (MP § 17)—that is, a considerable
number of determinations—when we recognize a thing clearly and confusedly. With this
proposition as a basic premise, he states the following:
Individuals are completely determined, ergo, singular representations are extremely poetic.
(MP § 19)
If representations of an individual are highly poetic, then “proper names,” signs ofindividuals, “are also poetic” (MP § 89). In empirical psychology, he describes it as a form ofstrength:

4

For the citations of Baumgarten’s Metaphysics, I use the English translation by Fugate and Hymers.

A. G. Baumgarten and G. F. Meier on Proper Names and their Poetic Effect27

The power [vis] of proper names is not small. (MT4 § 517)
The “power” being referred to here implies the strength of a representation due to the numberof notes. The double negative expression “not small” is not a euphemism but a strong affirmation,
as Baumgarten contended, in his earlier book Reflections, that representations of an individual
are extremely poetic.
Baumgarten thus argues that proper names are highly poetic or strong because the complete
determinations of individuals bring about a high level of extensive clarity of cognition. Despite
directly connecting the ontological concept of complete determination to the aesthetic andepistemological problem of the representation of proper names in literature, he does not explain
how complete determinations are represented when proper names are used.
As examples to expound that representations of individuals are poetic, Baumgarten cites the394-line chart of the warships in Homer’s Iliad (Hom. Il. 2.484–877), the enumeration of
Apollo’s holy places in the Hymn to Apollo (HH 21.30–44), and the list of 35 dogs that bite
Actaeon in Ovid’s Metamorphose (Ovid. Met. 3.206-225) (MP § 19 Scholium).5 This rhetorical
technique lists more specific things for the purpose of description, called “catalogos” (κατάλογος)because of their character of catalog-like enumeration.
The catalogos is not the best example for Baumgarten’s theory of proper names and may leadto a misunderstanding: although the poetic nature of proper names should derive from theconsiderable number of notes or determinations that an individual has, the point of the catalogos
relates to the number of proper names enumerated.6 In addition, right after Baumgarten indicatesin Reflections that proper names are poetic, he dissuades the use of too many proper names that
may be unfamiliar to readers. Asserting that several unknown things will diminish the clarity ofa readers’ cognition, he states that “it is poetic to avoid many unfamiliar proper names” (MP §90). 7 Even though the above expressions may conflict with this rule, Baumgarten seems toconsider them exceptions. As these catalogos have generally been negatively evaluated as abrupt
and redundant expressions that interrupt the flow of the story, Baumgarten persists in defending
Homer and Ovid. He evaluates them as poetic expressions that cannot be easily imitated, while
third-rate poets snicker at them without understanding their beauty (MP § 19 Scholium).
If the strength of proper names comes from their complete determination, then when we heara proper name, do we represent all the notes of the referent at once, or do we keep enumerating
the notes sequentially? It is difficult to imagine such a situation, and to assume that Baumgarten,5
In his later book Aesthetics (1750/1758), Baumgarten indicates that, regarding the technique of naming more
concrete things, it is better to express species rather than genera, or express individuals rather than species, and thencites the chart of warships in the Iliad and the enumeration of Actaeon’s dogs by Ovid as examples of exemplary
expression (AE § 751; § 756).
6
It is true that some catalogos refer to the notes of individuals, as in the Iliad’s chart of warships, which
describes each circumstance of the generals’ departure. Furthermore, as in Aesthetics (see previous note), if we takeeach proper name as a note, it provides a good example of an explanation for extensive clarity. However, as an
example of the poetic nature of proper names, catalogos are insufficient, because they are characterized by theenumeration of proper names. Undeniably, catalogos have other poetic effects, but we cannot explore them in thispaper.
7
It is recommended to weave proper names and unknown things into known things appropriately (MP § 13; §48; § 56).

IOKU Yoko28

who was familiar with poetry since childhood, would present a theory that is so far removed frompractice. What poetic effect does a proper name have, and how does a complete determination
provide the effect? To elucidate this, something that has not been explored before, we concentrateon Meier in the next section.

2. Proper name as emphasis
In this section, we focus on Meier’s definition of a proper name as an “emphatic expression”(nachdrücklicher Ausdruck) or “emphasis” (Nackdruck).
Whereas Baumgarten defines proper names as “names which signify individuals” ([nomina]
indiuidua significantia) (MP § 89), Meier adds the adjective “emphatic” here. I quote from thechapter on empirical psychology in Meier’s Metaphysics, vol. 3 (first edition 1757, second edition
1765).
Expressions, through which emphatic representations are signified, are called EMPHATIC
EXPRESSIONS, and those that express single things are named PROPER NAMES[eigenthümliche Namen]. (MK2 § 494, S. 38)
It is obvious from this definition that Meier considers proper names to be a form of “emphatic
expression.” An emphatic representation is one that “contains many notes [Merkmale] in itself”(MK2 § 494, S. 38). Since individuals have a considerable number of notes (see the previous
section; cf. MK2 § 141), by definition, the representation of an individual can be an emphatic
representation and the sign of an individual can be an emphatic expression. However, what doesit mean for a proper name to be an emphatic expression?
A more detailed explanation of emphasis is found in Attempt at a General Art ofInterpretation (1757), in Chapter 2 “On the Interpretation of Discourse” of Part I “Theoretical
Art of Interpretation.” First, it is better to organize the distinction between the “meaning”(Bedeutung; significatus) and “sense” (Sinn; sensus) that Meier assumes. The meaning is thecontent of the “expression” (Ausdruck; terminus) or especially of the “word” (Wort; vocabulum)(AA §§ 103f.),8 and it corresponds to the “referent” (eine bezeichnete Sache; signatum) (AA §7).9 In contrast, sense is the content of a set of words, a “discourse” (Rede; oratio), and it can berephrased as “understanding” (Verstand) (AA §§ 103f.). The discourse as an object of interpretation
is called a “text” (AA § 105). Taking these into account, Meier explains emphasis:

8
Meier defines an expression as “a sign for cognition” (ein Zeichen der Erkenntnis) and a word as “anexpression which usually consists of a human voice [Stimme] or an expression which can be heard” (AA § 103).
Therefore, the expression may include animal voices.
9
Meier immediately rephrases the “referent” by the “meaning.” Thus, the binary relation between the sign
(word) and its content (referent or meaning) is at issue here. This rephrasing is possible for Meier, because he imposes
to the referent and meaning the condition that the actual existence of the thing they signify can be recognized throughthe sign (cf. MK2 § 21, S. 35f.). Things that cannot exist are irrational concepts, such as “cold flames.” Such things
that violate the law of contradiction are, for Meier, simply nothing.

A. G. Baumgarten and G. F. Meier on Proper Names and their Poetic Effect29

The quantity and variety of what is contained in the sense and what can be correctlydeduced from it, are named the fruitfulness of the sense [die Fruchtbarkeit des Sinnes](foecunditas sensus). [...] A discourse, which has a fruitful sense, is a shorter sign of many
meanings, hence a more perfect sign; and therefore, the fruitfulness of the sense promotes
the fruitfulness of the discourse. Inasmuch as the meaning of a word contains much, in
itself, an emphasis [ein Nachdruck] (emphasis) is attributed to the word. Consequently, anemphatic discourse is more perfect than a discourse that is not emphatic. (AA § 201)
According to the above quotation, when the sense or understanding of a text shows many
variable contents, and it could produce a variety of interpretations, it is said to be a fruitful senseor understanding. An understanding that enriches the text in such a manner depends not only on
the interpreter but also on the text. A text that carries many meanings but is not redundant in
expression can provide fertility to understanding.
As the quotation specifies, an emphasis indicates that meaning includes many things, or, if
we apply the description in Metaphysics, it includes many notes. In other words, “An emphasis
emerges from secondary concepts [Nebenbegriffe] that are attached to the main concepts[Hauptbegriffe] in the meaning” (AA § 202). Thus, emphasis results from evoking notes as
secondary concepts of its main representations; these secondary concepts are inherent in any
concept that references an object. It is clear from this that “emphasis,” according to Meier, does
not mean that a word is intensified by vocalization or gestures, nor that a certain meaning of aword is emphasized. Rather, it refers to the intensification of an expression by inducing many
meanings out of it.10 Therefore, Meier concludes that the discourse with emphasis has moremeaning than the one without emphasis and is thus more fruitful and “more perfect.” Hence, aninterpreter must “assume the most fruitful [allerfruchtbarst] immediate [i.e., literal] sense of thetext, and therefore the most emphasized [allernachdrücklichst] too” (ibid.).
The fact that Meier regards proper names as “emphasis,” which evokes the notes inherent in
the referent, means that proper names have not only the function of indicating an individual as alabel but also the rhetorical function of evoking the notes of an individual to a cognitive agent.
So long as Meier focuses on the use of words, he does not consider all possible predicates of acertain proper name equally; instead, he considers that notes have shades of degrees, those thatare strongly evoked and those that are not, depending on the usage of the word at the time.
How are the evoked notes determined among the numerous notes that the individual has?
Meier does not explain this point, but because the emphasis is a rhetorical expression, theemphasized content may depend on the intention of the author or speaker, and is determined by
the context of the text and the common perceptions and conventions of the group to which theauthor or recipient belongs.11 However, we argue that emphasis by a proper name is largely based
10

Baumgarten defines emphasis as “terms having a pregnant meaning” (termini significatus praegnantis) (MT4§ 517).
11

Emphasis is a concept that has significance in the biblical hermeneutics of pietistic theology, and the reason
Meier does not elaborate on it is probably that the theory was already established. Lectures on Interpretation of Holy30

IOKU Yoko

on the relationship between the referent individual and the recipient. Because the individual has
many choices of notes, the ones evoked are likely to vary according to the recipient’s level ofknowledge and interest. Therefore, when the name of an individual who has a direct or indirect
relationship with the recipient is mentioned, more notes will be evoked than for those who donot; thus, the name will be more vivid. Alternatively, when reading a story, the number of notesthat can be evoked from a character’s name increases toward the end of the story, and the namebecomes more emphasized and fulfilling.
Meier cites a few examples of proper names. In empirical psychology, as evidence that poets
and orators prefer to use proper names rather than abstract concepts, he states that they think ofAlexander the Great rather than of heroes in general and they give the name “Kaspar” when they
introduce a miser (MK2 § 494, S. 39). The former seems to imply the portrayal of a specificindividual, Alexander the Great, to represent a heroic figure.12 Another interpretation is that it isan expression that uses an individual as an archetype instead of a species, as when a skilled
tactician is called Hannibal (cf. AE §§ 797f.). The latter example, “Kaspar,” typologically refers
to a person with a specific character by a certain fictitious name. In Japanese culture, there arealso such examples in Edo rakugo, in which an unintelligent character is called “Yotaro.” Thesecond interpretation of the former and the latter can be explained in terms of rhetorical
techniques, synecdoche, which refers to a whole thing by mentioning its parts, and among thevarious types of synecdoche it corresponds to an antonomasia, which refers to a common noun
by using a proper name.
Perhaps Meier cites typological expressions to make it easier for the reader to understand,but in this case the effect of the proper name can be explained as follows. For example, in Plautus’
play, “Step this way with me, [...] my Juno (Ei hac mecum, [...] Iuno mea)” (Plaut. Mercator
689f.; cf. AE § 797), readers familiar with conventions based on ancient Roman culture will
understand that Juno implies a wife. Compared with if the word “wife” was used here instead,this line would evoke more notes associated with Juno, such as the graceful figure of the goddess
depicted in various works of art, the image of the peacock as an attribute, or chastity and fertility.
The antonomasia of the proper name makes texts more fruitful because of these aesthetic effects.
Scripture (1st edition 1742) by Baumgarten’s brother Siegmund Jakob Baumgarten (1706–1757) is said to have had
a strong influence on Meier’s Attempt at a General Art of Interpretation (cf. Bühler and Madonna 1996, XLVf.).
According to S. J. Baumgarten’s description, the understanding of an emphasis, like the understanding of a text, isdetermined by the author’s final purpose and must be carried out with due regard to the historical circumstances of
the text and the author (AHS § 117; § 129). His definition of emphasis is as follows: “When the delivery of a discourse,
in addition to the proper main representations that should be aroused through the discourse, causes some secondary
representations related to the speaker’s final purpose; so, one calls it EMPHASIS, because the weight and effect ofthe main representations are increased by them” (AHS § 118). Furthermore, emphasis has four main characteristics:
a much-signifying expression, verifiability of the main representations, differences among the secondary
representations, and the relation of the secondary meanings to the entire purpose of the discourse (AHS § 121). Since
the concept of emphasis is derived from biblical hermeneutics, it can be assumed that Meier intended to defend the
poetic expression of the Bible with the argument about the strength of proper names. For more on Meier’s defenseof biblical expression, see Goldenbaum (2011).
12
In this case, Meier probably has chapter 9 of Aristotle’s Poetics in mind. As is well known, Aristotle saysthat poetry speaks of the universals, and ““[u]niversal” means the kinds of things which it suits a certain kind of
person to say or do, in terms of probability or necessity: poetry aims for this, even though attaching names to theagents” (1451b5–10).

A. G. Baumgarten and G. F. Meier on Proper Names and their Poetic Effect31

The differences between normal untyped proper names are discussed in Section 3, in relation todefinite descriptions.
Although the idea that expressions with a variety of meanings can enrich a text is not novel,
we see that Meier’s uniqueness lies in the fact that he considers proper names themselves to be
the emphasis. However, Baumgarten probably conceived the idea of considering proper names
as a form of emphasis. He mentions proper names only in § 517 of Metaphysics, and says, “thepower of proper names is not small” (see the previous section), where he provides the definitionof emphasis immediately before this sentence. The sentences Baumgarten added to § 517 in thesecond edition (1743) were about emphasis and proper names, so it is unlikely that proper names
and emphasis are regarded as being completely unrelated. Moreover, Meier’s view, as werevealed in this section, does not conflict with Baumgarten’s view presented in the previous
section, and Meier’s theory of proper names can be regarded as an elaboration of Baumgarten’sview. Nevertheless, Baumgarten does not explicitly note anything about the connection between
emphasis and the proper name. Hence, based on Baumgarten’s theory of proper names, whichstates that they have a strong power because of their complete determination of individuals, Meierexplained their poetic or rhetorical effect by accentuating the proper name as emphasis.
However, there is a limit to the number of notes that a recipient can represent, and even if
we consider proper names as emphasis, the huge number of notes of complete determinations
may not be utilized. Responding to this issue in the next section, we examine the effects of proper
names as emphasis from the perspective of notes that are not evoked.

3. Mathematical infinity of notes in a proper nameand the inexhaustibility of individuals
All complete determinations of the individual must be graspable, in principle, from atranscendental perspective. Since Wolffianism purports that God created this best world seeing
through all the determinations of the possible worlds—even though the determinations ofindividuals are more numerous than those of genera and species—the number of determinations
is not infinite, so long as the creatures are finite. Nonetheless, it would be impossible for humanbeings to grasp all the events and actions that happen to an individual in the present, past, andfuture.13 Meier himself was aware that human cognition is limited (cf. SME § 1), as is often
pointed out. This attitude is also apparent in his book on aesthetics, Foundations of All Beautiful
Sciences (three volumes, first edition 1748–1750, second edition 1754–1769)—for example, inthe following description: “we humans do not have either entirely detailed concepts about any
single thing, nor cognition that entirely exhausts [erschöpfen] the object” (SW2 Bd. 2, § 327, S.
142).
In his empirical psychology, which explains cognition with the “I” as its starting point, Meier,
who emphasizes the limits of human cognition, uses the word “infinite” to describe the total notesthat an individual possesses, and then goes on to refer to the use of proper names in aesthetic
expressions. It becomes clear from Meier’s description that he approaches it positively from a
13

Cf. Leibniz (1686, § 13).

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IOKU Yoko

point of view of beauty that the notes of individuals, which should be finite from thetranscendental point of view, cannot be fully grasped by human cognition. This is a quote from
Metaphysics:
The representation of a single thing represents us a thing that is completely determined andthus contains infinitely many things in itself [unendlich viel in sich enthalten].
Consequently, such representations have great strength, and they are usually stronger andmore emphatic than abstract concepts, and the expressions of the representations of a single
thing, are stronger and more emphatic than those that contain little in themselves. Hence,
it comes that orators and poets deliver as few abstract concepts as can be done. Instead ofgeneral expressions, they use proper names. (MK2 § 494, S. 38f.)
We discussed the relationship between the strength of individual representations or emphasisand complete determination in Sections 1 and 2. Here, we investigate that complete determination
is “infinitely many things.” According to Meier, representations and expressions of the individual
have a considerable degree of strength and emphasis because the individual is represented as
containing “infinitely many things.” Since the representations and expressions of the individual
possess this strength and emphasis, proper names are preferred to abstract concepts in poetry andspeech. Following the quoted passage, Meier ends the section by citing examples such as
Alexander the Great, which we have explored in Section 2. We can gather from this statement
that, in Meier’s view, the reason that the use of proper names is effective in poetry and speech isthat the collection of the complete determinations of the individual is represented as “infinitely
many things.”
The infinity referring to an individual’s notes here is, of course, different from the infinity
referred to as God. Meier distinguishes “the mathematically infinite” (das mathematisch
Unendliche) from “the metaphysically infinite” (das metaphysisch Unendliche). The latter has nolimits whatsoever. In contrast, the former seems to have no limits, or that which has boundaries
but is not or cannot be determined, from a particular point of view (MK2 § 181; § 306). According
to Meier, God is metaphysically infinite, while the immortality of the soul, the straight line inmathematics, and the distance between the smallest fixed star and the earth are mathematicallyinfinite (ibid.). When describing the number of notes that an individual has as “infinite,” it isapparent that he mentions mathematical infinity from the perspective of human cognition.
Meier sometimes uses the adverb “infinitely” for mere intensification (e.g., MK2 § 548, S.
117), so it might be unnecessary to read the above quotation literally. However, there is no reason
to regard the use of the word infinite in the passage as wholly meaningless. This is not only
because numerous notes are attributed to the individual but also because inexhaustibility without
an end is fundamental to Meier’s aesthetic theory.
Meier positively affirms the object, which is represented as infinite and inexhaustive, interms of increasing diversity. The text that clearly states this is Meier’s early representative
aesthetic text, Thoughts on Humor (first edition 1744, second edition 1754). Despite the limited
theme of humor, he wrote this essay as a part of the then-nascent aesthetics (GS2 § 9, S. 23), andoffered his views on beauty in general. The quotation that follows is from the first half of the

A. G. Baumgarten and G. F. Meier on Proper Names and their Poetic Effect33

book, the section titled “The First Beauty of Humor,” in which he argues that diversity isnecessary for humor:
Nothing delights our soul more strongly than the difference in a pleasant object. If we direct
our attention to the thing that contains, in itself, exceedingly little, we exhaust [erschöpfen]
this thing by our observation in an instant [...]. On the contrary, the eye wanders withenchanted delight here and there in the region where the eye can behold no end and is filledwith the infinitely many [unendlich viel] different objects. Everything large and infinite andeverything comprehends so many diverse things in itself arouses a pleasing sensation to thesoul. (GS2 § 33, S. 79)
Because diversity amuses us, it is more desirable to have infinite diversity in beauty than tohave so little that we assume that we have rapidly exhausted it, although, as noted above, it istheoretically impossible for human cognition to exhaust any object at all. Therefore, for Meier,the “large and infinite” gives rise to a pleasant sensation.
Since the individual has a mathematically infinite number of notes, in line with Meier, theindividual can be an “infinite thing” or even a “large thing” and can cause pleasant sensations
through its inexhaustibility. The reason an individual can be a “large thing” is that a large object
is, according to the explanation in Foundations of All Beautiful Sciences, not only the object,
whose cause and effect are large, but also an object that contains an “infinite amount” ofdeterminations or parts (SW2 § 65, S. 117–119). Although beauty is fundamentally dependent on
the way the agent recognizes it (SW2 § 23), diversity and magnitude, the two properties that bringabout beauty, are said to be derived from the object rather than the way of cognition (SW2 § 30,
S. 48).
When Meier argues in Metaphysics that the representations and expressions of the individual
are strong and emphatic based on the mathematical infinity of the notes, he refers only to theproper name as the expression of the individual, ignoring definite descriptions. We argue that thequantity of candidate notes for evocation relates to this. The definite description that indicates anindividual with certain notes, such as the expression “teacher of Alexander the Great,” whichindicates Aristotle, has the effect of foregrounding the notes used for the indication. In this way,
they preferentially evoke the notes that are used and strongly related to them, relegating the othernotes to the background. Compared with proper names, in poetic effect, definite descriptions
certainly have a positive aspect, in that the author’s or speaker’s intention or wit is expressed withgreater clarity by the choice of notes; but unlike proper names, such definite descriptions do notreflect that an individual is an entity with innumerable notes inexhaustible by human cognition.
Therefore, an aesthetic difference arises when, for example, a character or place in a story isreferred to merely by role as opposed to being given a proper name. In addition, typologicalexpressions, such as antonomasia, mentioned in the previous section, are also inferior in thequantity of candidate notes for evocation, since the choice of notes is partially limited byconvention.
If Meier thinks that proper names are more suitable than definite descriptions to represent
individuals as entities with an inexhaustible number of notes, and if the reason is that definite

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descriptions bring only certain notes to the fore, then the proper name already has strong power
because of numerous notes that are not evoked. Therefore, even if the recipient does not represent
a lot of concrete notes, through fullness, which indicates that the individual is an entity with amathematically infinite number of notes, the proper name itself can bring a lively beauty.

Conclusion
By focusing on Meier’s text, this paper has demonstrated how the proper name, considered“poetic” by Baumgarten, can have a poetic effect.
Claiming that proper names are highly poetic or “strong,” Baumgarten directly applies the
ontological notion of the “complete determination” of individuals to the aesthetic andepistemological problem of the representation of proper names in the literature. Moreover, his
example of “catalogos” is not the most appropriate since it uses the abundance of proper names
rather than the abundance of the notes of a proper name. Hence, it is unclear how such complete
determinations are represented and give a poetic effect when proper names are used (Section 1).
Meier considers a proper name as a type of “emphasis.” Thus, he extends the proper namebeyond the function of indicating an individual as the label to the rhetorical function of evoking
the notes of the individual to the cognitive agent. Therefore, it is clear that expressions of proper
names make use of complete determination by evoking notes. In addition, depending on therecipient, emphasis by a proper name evokes more variable notes than do common names(Section 2).
The notes of the individual, which should be finite from the transcendental perspective,
cannot be fully grasped by human cognition. Meier regards it as the reason proper names are
more powerful than abstract concepts, taking the limits of human cognition positively from theperspective of beauty. Meier assumed that the expressions indicating individuals who have“mathematically infinite” notes were proper names rather than definite descriptions. Hence, we
propose that, because proper names represent the individual as an inexhaustible entity, their use
does not necessarily have to evoke numerous complete determinations for the individual, but thename of the individual itself could bring about a lively beauty through an abundance of latentnotes (Section 3).
Through the above discussion, the relationship between the poetic effect of proper names
and their complete determination is explained from two aspects: emphasis and the mathematicalinfinity of the notes. Baumgarten claimed that individuals and proper names are extremely poetic,in his habilitation thesis, where he declared the new science of aesthetics. Meier, in response,
elaborated on Baumgarten’s argument about the poetic effect of proper names. The conclusionsof this paper suggest that these were two sides of the same coin; Meier was keenly aware of thelimitations of human cognition, and he found the potential of aesthetics as a new science andexerted effort to promote it. This may provide a clue to the origin of aesthetics as a philosophicaldiscipline.

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