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.