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Birth of Hilary Putnam
Born in Chicago, Illinois to Samuel and Riva Putnam. He received his Ph.D. from UCLA in 1951. During his life he taught as several universities to include: Princeton, MIT, and Harvard. -
Other Philisophical Contributions
Putnam also contributed heavily to the philosophy of language. This contribution is based on "what is meaning?" According to Putnam, meaning is not just purely mental entities or conceptual constructs but rather as being anchored in external reality.
Putnam, Hilary, "Brains in a Vat" in Reason, Truth, and History, Cambridge University Press, (1981) -
Philosophy of Mind
Putnam, Hilary. Mind, Language, and Reality. Cambridge [England: Cambridge University Press, 1975.
Putnam, Hilary. Representation and Reality. 1988. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
Putnam's most notable came with his theory of multiple realizability. He states in his hypothesis that it is not completely true that pain is identical to C-fibre firing but rather corresponds to different physical states of the nervous system. Multiple realizability states a linkage between mental and physical states. -
Video Interview with Hilary Putnam
https://youtu.be/-RkF4YzEUeg
The interview discusses various philosophical topics, to include the philosophy of mind. -
Death of Putnam
On the 13th of March, Putnam passed away at his home in Arlington, Massachusetts at the age of 89.
