What is naming things?

Naming things is a concept in personal epistemology: A precise name converts a fuzzy intuition into a findable, retrievable, composable object — and the act of naming changes what you can think.

Example: You have a recurring frustration at work. You've been calling it 'burnout' in your head for months. Then you sit down and name it precisely: 'I resent being accountable for outcomes I have no authority to influence.' That sentence is not burnout. It's a structural mismatch between responsibility and autonomy. The vague label kept you stuck in self-care articles. The precise name points you at a conversation with your manager, a role redesign, or a job change. Same feeling. Completely different action surface.

This concept is part of Phase 2 (Atomicity and Decomposition) in the How to Think curriculum, which builds the epistemic infrastructure for atomicity and decomposition.