Hilary Putnam

By RyleeW18

  • Hilary Putnam

    Hilary Putnam
    A philosopher that was born on this day and made many contributions to metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, philosophy of logic and philosophy of mathematics.

  • PhD

    PhD
    Received a PhD on philosophy from the University of California Los Angeles.

  • Philosophy and Our Mental Life

    Philosophy and Our Mental Life
    Another area that Putnam made a huge impact in was in the philosophy of mind. In the philosophy of mind, he introduced something called functionalism. Functionalism “attempts to define mental states in terms of their functional roles relative to other mental states and behaviors” (Ben-Menahem).

  • Changed his view on Realism

    Changed his view on Realism
    Something that Putnam defended for all of his life was realism. Putnam was held strong on this view but would often go back to revisit and revise his view and in 1976 he did this with his view on “metaphysical realism”. Putnam argued that this concept of realism did not account for autonomy and human language. It also did not account for reality being described in multiple ways. He instead recommends “internal realism” be adopted in its place. Later, he calls it “common sense realism.”

  • Video

    Video
    In 1977 Putnam gives a short interview about functionalism of the mind. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0bky2ep_lI&t=1s

  • Wrote "Why There Isnt a Ready-Made World"

    Wrote "Why There Isnt a Ready-Made World"
    He uses his work “Why There Isnt a Ready-Made World” to distinguish his view on realism from metaphysical realism.

  • Death

    Death
    Died on this date due to cancer.

  • Citations

    Citations
    Ben-Menahem, Y. (n.d.). Varieties of realism. Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hilary-Putnam/Varieties-of-realism YouTube. (2023). Mind and Computers. YouTube. Retrieved January 11, 2024, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0bky2ep_lI&t=1s.