Linguistic Internalism and Externalism: Bridging Medieval and Contemporary Thought

Join us for a one-day workshop on linguistic internalism and externalism featuring Peter King (University of Toronto), Gyula Klima (Fordham University), Simone L. Migliaro (Humboldt University, Berlin – University of Toronto), Calvin Normore (University of California, Los Angeles), Claude Panaccio (Université du Québec à Montreal), and Giorgio Pini (Fordham University).

The distinction between internalism and externalism has shaped much of the contemporary analytic debate on the nature and function of language. Internalism encompasses theories holding that the meaning of an expression is primarily determined by internal states—more simply, by what is in the speaker’s mind. Externalism, by contrast, assigns greater weight to factors outside the subject, such as the linguistic community or causal relations to the external world. This distinction initially emerged to contrast the descriptivist and broadly internalist approaches of authors such as Gottlob Frege or Noam Chomsky with the externalist accounts developed by Saul Kripke and Hilary Putnam.

The debate, however, remains vibrant and continues to inspire new interpretations and refinements. There is broad agreement that, by the late Middle Ages, a coherent and systematic approach to the analysis of language and its proprerties had begun to develop. This development produced a sophisticated theoretical framework, traditionally known as logica modernorum, and sparked new debates that challenged several assumptions of the Aristotelian tradition. Prevailing positions held that linguistic meaning was essentially determined by concepts—and thus by the subject’s internal cognitive grasp—yet this account did not seem to convince authors such as John Duns Scotus or William of Ockham. Some scholars have therefore proposed classifying their theories as externalist, in order to distinguish them from more traditional internalist accounts. This interpretative move, however, has not been universally accepted and has at times faced substantial methodological criticism.

This workshop aims to advance the discussion by creating a forum for exchange between experts in contemporary analytic philosophy and scholars of medieval thought. Framed around the internalism-externalism distinction, it seeks to evaluate how effectively this framework can illuminate medieval theories of language. While the structural parallels between certain contemporary analyses and late medieval developments are undeniable, it remains to be determined how philosophically fruitful and historically justified these comparisons are, and whether the conceptual differences between the two contexts constitute a limitation or, conversely, a theoretical opportunity.

Questions the workshop aims to answer: • What do we mean by internalism and externalism? • To what extent can medieval theories of language be meaningfully classified in terms of the internalism–externalism dichotomy? • To what extent do medieval theories resemble contemporary accounts? And in what respects do they differ? • Are these differences a limitation or an opportunity?