EDITORIALE / Marco Costantini, Pierluigi D’Agostino /
Language in the Age of Enlightenment. Linguistic theories in 18th century Europe
This Introduction provides an overview of the main themes of the eighteenth-century debate on linguistic issues. It has been rightly observed that eighteenth-century philosophy is particularly interested in questions about language. These include the question of the origin of language – that is, whether the capacity to speak is based on nature or convention – and the question of the relationship between language, thought and reality. We show that these questions are linked to several central aspects of eighteenth-century philosophical thought, in particular the concept of rationality, the emergence of the human sciences, and the critical examination of society. In addition, we show how the new insights into the core questions of language significantly influenced the development of the linguistic sciences.
