Le idee linguistiche di Epicuro e la tradizione epicurea: il problema del significato / Epicurus’ linguistic ideas and the Epicurean tradition: the puzzle of the ‘meaning’

Abstract

The problem of the meaning in the Epicurean philosophy of language is still today a highly controversial topic. The aim of this paper is to examine the contribution of Ep. ad Her . 37-8 to properly semantic issues. In this perspective, some key-essays on Epicurus’ philosophy of language and epistemology will be reviewed focusing on the problematic relationship between reality, prolepsis and language. It will be argued that – pace scholars such as Glidden and Giannantoni – the Greek philosopher may be credited with a genuine interest in the semantic dimension of human language. It will be further argued that it is the concept of prolepsis to intermediate between semantics and epistemology. In the final sections attention is paid to both Ep. ad Her . 75-6 and Lucretius De rer. Nat. V, 1028-90. Epicurus’ and Lucretius’ ideas on the origin of language are briefly commented upon and their influence on much later thinkers such as Leibniz and Vico is documented.