Computational logics and the philosophy of language: the problem of lexical meaning in formal semantics

Abstract

This paper deals with the possible contributions that logical researches carried on in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) could give to formal theories of meaning developed by logically oriented philosophers of language within the tradition of analytic philosophy. In particular, I will take into account a topic which is problematic in many respects for traditional logical accounts of meaning, i.e., the problem of lexical semantics. My thesis is that AI logics could give useful instruments to face some aspects of the problem, whilst other aspects fall outside the scope of a logical treatment, and require other kinds of computational instruments.