Language

The paper reassesses the evidence on the Epicurean analysis of language, which so far has received two kinds of interpretation. One is the “extensionalist” view, which supposes that the Epicureans developed a theory of meaning. The other consists in the “intensionalist” reading, which on the contrary suggests that these philosophers embrace a philosophy of linguistic behavior, where words express things without the medium of signification. The paper will argue that the former interpretation is more plausible, while focusing especially on the following topics: the relationship between words and reality, the natural origin of language, the theory of preconceptions, the ethical aim of Epicurean linguistic analysis as a whole (i.e. the search for the evident meanings of terms, which allow us to make inquiries that lead humans to well-being). At the same time, the paper will reconstruct how the Epicurean linguistic doctrine developed through time, from Epicurus to Diogenianus. This investigation will show that Epicureans did not simply repeat the basic teachings of their master, but improved them and changed some details, without however abandoning its main points. The only possible exception might be Lucretius’ study of poetry, which in his perspective consists precisely in abandoning the proper meanings of words and adopting a beautiful language which in part deliberately conveys falsehood/deception.