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Born
Born in Chicago, IL to Samuel and Riva Putnam. Raised a communist until 1956. Here is a fun educational video from an interview with Putnam himself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IN7PUy8ZrQE Sources:
O'Grady, Jane. "Hilary Putnam obituary
Philosopher who revolutionised the philosophy of mind." The Guardian, March 14, 2016. www.theguardian.com/books/2016/mar/14/hilary-putnam-obituary -
Obtained PhD
He got a PhD after accomplishing a degree in mathematics and philosophy. He also wrote a dissertation this year on the concept of probability. -
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Worked at Northwestern University
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Worked at Princeton University
While working at Princeton, he began to work on one of the unsolved problems in mathematics: "that of finding a general algorithm for solving Diophantine equations (polynomial equations, named after Diophantus of Alexandria, involving only integer constants and allowing only integer solutions) (Ben-Menahem, 2010)." -
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Worked at MIT
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Worked at Harvard
He worked at Harvard Until he retired. -
"The Meaning of 'Meaning'"
In this work, he proposed meanings are not necessarily internal constructs within a human concept, but they are the actual, external truth or reality. -
"Philosophy and our Mental Life"
Here, he compared how function and structure are separate. He explained this by comparing brains to computers - brain was hardware and mind was software. -
Metaphyiscal vs Internal Realism
Putnam proposed that the scientific community adopt Internal Realism instead of Metaphysical Realism: Metaphysical Realism - The structure of the world does not coincide with our thoughts or perceptions of it. Internal Realism - The structure of the world is objective. One scenario can be described multiple ways. -
"Brains in a Vat"
Putnam makes a bold claim to say that sentient beings are connected. We are all just programmed together. -
Reason, Truth, and History
Putnam tries to break down the fixed categories in people's minds in this book, attempting to "free" their minds to "think outside the box." -
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His Later Works
Towards the end of his life, he published multiple books, which portrayed his strong will for philosophy to begin its traditional guiding and inspiring role again.
-Realism with a Human Face (1990)
-Words and Life (1994)
-Ethics without Ontology (2004)
-Jewish Philosophy as a Guide to Life: Rosenzweig, Buber, Levinas, Wittgenstein (2008)
-Philosophy in the Age of Science: Physics, Mathematics, and Skepticism (2012) -
Died
Works Cited:
Ben-Menahem, Yemima. “Philosophy of Mind.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2010, www.britannica.com/biography/Hilary-Putnam/Philosophy-of-mind. Khlentzos, Drew. "Challenges to Metaphysical Realism." The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, 2021, https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2021/entries/realism-sem-challenge/