La metafora della svolta. Una questione metafilosofica

The metaphor of “turn” is a widespread commonplace in contemporary philosophy. Yet it plays a relevant role from a metaphilosophical point of view. The paper deals with the strengths and weaknesses of metaphors in 20th-century debates. The first section discusses the topos of the linguistic turn both in the Anglo-American and European tradition. Starting from Rorty’s collection (1967), the paper argues that it is not only a historical reconstruction of relevant topics in philosophy, but also a critical reconsideration of the metaphor of revolution itself. The second section analyzes the increasing interest of philosophers in figurative language from the 1960s onwards (Blumenberg, Derrida, Ricoeur, Lakoff & Johnson). The thesis is that the awareness of its impact has changed the nature of philosophy, radically modifying the metaphilosophical question par excellence: “What does doing philosophy mean?”