Forma, esibizione, soggettività. Trasformazioni della questione linguistica in Harris, Roth e Vater

In this paper, I will examine the historical and conceptual relations between James Harris, Georg Michael Roth and Johann Severin Vater to demonstrate the following points: 1) Although Harris’s philosophical grammar introduces a dynamic concept of language form, his theory remains deeply rooted in the Aristotelian metaphysical tradition; 2) Roth seeks to overcome the limitations of Harris’s approach by applying the Kantian transcendental turn to the field of linguistic studies. He achieves this through the concept of “exhibition”, which clarifies how the linguistic sign is primarily constituted and conceived as an expression of thought in a real object; 3) Vater critiques Roth’s transcendental linguistics, arguing that it fails to adequately assess the role of linguistic subjectivity and its spontaneous activity in designating and expressing thoughts, which is crucial to understanding the possibility of language. This analysis illuminates key developments in 18th-century linguistic thought and lays the foundation for further studies on the philosophical assumptions that shaped the scientific discourse on language.