La svolta ontologica in filosofia

Abstract: The proposal of a “philosophical turn” in linguistics, put forward by the supporters of the Onto-Terminology is set into the theoretical framework of the “ontological turn” in contemporary analytic philosophy. After the “linguistic” turn in philosophy, the ontological one is particularly due to the logical analyses of Quine and the issues on meaning by Russell, Kripke and Putnam. We can sketch two main streams in the theory of definition of words: one of those is very close to the aristotelian theory that assigns the function of individuating the meaning of word to the “essence”; the other one is labelled ‘theory of description’ and is initially due to Russell. The last attributes the meaning to a bundle of properties or characteristics. As result it is sustained that, in order to fruitful apply theory of definition in terminology, it is necessary to take into account both interpretations of meaning.