Natural language and formal methods

Abstract

Philosophical problems concerning language are as old as the philosophy itself. The works of Frege, Russell and Tarski brought the philosophy of language closer to modern logic. Formal methods found in logic together with structural analysis of the natural languages we owe to the work of Chomsky and his school form the backbone of formal semantics, fertile discipline that has significantly improved our understanding of the mechanisms on which natural languages rest. We will discuss whether and to what extent formal methods have been incorporated in the modern philosophy of language, as well as the possible reasons that led to it.