La svolta lessicografica nella filosofia analitica del linguaggio

This paper is aimed at highlighting how the problem of meaning in analytic philosophy has been subject to a shift since the well-known theories of the late Wittgenstein, characterized by an approach to meaning in terms of lexicon and grammar. Something analogous to the Wittgensteinian view was also theorized by W.V.Quine, who from «On What there is» (1948) and «Two Dogmas of Empiricism» (1951) to Pursuit of Truth (1992) pointed out that philosophical theories of meaning have been based for too long on a misunderstanding: that of considering meanings as entities. Independently of Wittgenstein, Quine instead argued that it is solely to the linguistic use recorded by lexicography that the vague notion of meaning can be traced. From such a perspective, lexicography would provide us with everything we need to master a language. The theory of meaning would then become a theory of the correct uses of lexicon and understanding in a community of speakers.