Hilary Putnam

By nader chabane

  • Hilary Putnam early years

    Hilary Putnam early years
    Hilary Putman was born in 1926. He was born in Chicago Illinois where he lived with his father Samuel Putnam and mother Riva Putnam. His mother was Jewish while Hilary himself had no religious beliefs. His father was a writer and translator and was apart of the communist party. He and his family moved to France at an early age and lived there until 1934. Putnam met a life long friend in high school named Noam Chomsky where they became rivaled each other intellectually.

  • Hilary Putnam College years and studies

    Hilary Putnam College years and studies
    Putnam did well in high school along side his friend Noam. Putnam studied at the University of Pennsylvania where he received a bachelors degree in philosophy. He was also apart of the Philomathean society, an old literary society. He attended Harvard and the University of California. He then wrote a dissertation on the concept of probability which gained him his Ph.D. in 1951.Once he obtained his Ph.D. he taught philosophy at Princeton University and MIT until 1976.

  • Putnam's work and findings

    Putnam's work and findings
    After teaching Putnam joined the philosophy department in Harvard. He retired from Harvard in 2000. Putnam is well known for his studies on philosophy of the mind. He produced several major papers that were published in the 1960s. In these papers he stated that pain is related to the different physical states of the nervous system. He also states if animals don't have the same brain strictures they can't share the same mental state. Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kH785oawwkk

  • Putnam's Later years

    Putnam's Later years
    Putnam changed the minds of many and had many supporters. He also was strongly against scientism. He was very knowledgeable in physics and mathematics. Another one of his "thought experiments" was "Brain in a Vat". It states if your brain was removed and preserved in a Vat, it could be hooked up to a supercomputer. The brain would still be conscious and live on as if nothing happened. Everything would be an illusion and they wouldn't know they are living in one, it simply wouldn't understand.