Mezzo secolo di filosofia del linguaggio religioso in Italia

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to look into the Italian philosophy of religious language in order (1) to evaluate the reception of this discipline born in an analytic context and (2) to appreciate its original features. After an introduction which specifies the status of the philosophy of religious language, in the first paragraph three pioneering articles written between 1961 and 1966 are taken into consideration, because they determine the subsequent reception of this discipline. Then Bochenski’s, Ramsey’s and Ferre’s works translated into Italian are analyzed paying attention to the introductions that had launched the interpretation of their thesis. Micheletti’s and Antiseri’s historical reconstructions are considered in the third paragraph. They differ from one another in presenting the philosophy of religious language as the logical analysis of a particular type of speech or in the context of semantic atheism. The fourth paragraph is devoted to three ambits in which Italian philosophy of religious language is flourishing nowadays: biblical studies (through the linguistic status of metaphors), philosophy of prayer (through pragmatics) and formal logic (through formal ontology). In the light of these studies it is possible to conclude that the Italian philosophy of religious language is growing and that it is able to contribute to philosophy of religion and to interreligious dialogue in a relevant way