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Birth
Hilary Putnam was born on July 31, 1926 in Chicago, Illinois. Putnam was the only child of Samuel and Riva Putnam. His father was a writer and translator, an active communist, and a columnist for the Daily Worker, the newspaper of the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA). -
Early life
In 1951, Putnam received his PHD from UCLA. In 1951 he taught at Northwestern University until 1952, and taught at Princeton University from 1953 to 1961. While teaching he received tenure in both the Department of Philosophy and the Department of Mathematics in 1960. In 1965 he joined the Harvard heHe would Spend the rest of his teaching days at Harvard from (1965-2000). -
Publication // The meaning of "meaning"
Putnam’s most influential contributions are to philosophy of language and mind. Putnam is believed to have invented “semantic externalism”, the view that meanings are not subjective, or ‘in the head’ but are determined by the objects and events of the social. In 1975, Putnam published "The meaning of "meaning"",in the book he describes the Twin Earth experiment. Attached is a link that gives a better definition on Semantic externalism, (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_strtQrsn6M) -
Philosophy of Mind
Putnam's best-known work is philosophy of mind. In 1975, he published a book , "Mind, Language and Reality. Philosophical Papers", he came up with his theory of multiple realizability. He states 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. -
Death
Hilary Putnam died of cancer at the age of 89 on March, 13 in Boston, MA. According to his daughter, the cause of his death was metastasized mesothelioma. He is widely know for his works in metaphysics, epistemology, cognitive psychology, philosophy of science, language, logic and mathematics.
