Arbitrariness of language in empiricist and rationalist linguistic thought

In modern linguistics the notion of 'arbitrariness' is associated with Saussure’s theory of language, but the analysis of the relationship between linguistic expression and content belongs to the tradition of linguistic thought which goes back to the roots of Western philosophy. The debate between 'physei' and 'thesei' involves language(s) and thought, reality and its perception, and knowledge issues. These ideas had a strong impact on the panorama of 17th-century European pre-scientific thinking on the nature of language and its capability to represent and transmit knowledge contents in an accurate and unequivocal way. The empiricist tradition shares this cultural panorama with rationalism. The idea of ‘arbitrariness’ will be identified and analysed in the most representative texts devoted to language and knowledge issues produced in the 17th century, in the different traditions of research that characterized this period. The reflections under analysis led to a prolific and multifarious production of linguistic works, ranging from the creation of philosophical languages to a reformulation of an improved grammar for a historical language.