Hilary Whitehall Putham (Born July 31, 1926 Chicago Illinois- Died March 13, 2016, Arlington Massachusetts)
By Traceone
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Functionalism
Hilary Putnam had an enormous impact on the philosophy of mind is the doctrine he introduced to be known as functionalism. This has roots in Aristotle conception of the soul. It was an attempt to define the function of the mental state and what role they play, as in pain and the mental state of the mind when the body is in pain. Putnam later on went away from this idea but left a lasting impact. -
Semantic Externalism
One of Hilary Putnam well known theory is his theory on Semantic Externalism. In the 1960's and 70's according to Putnam, thoughts and words are influenced by factors outside of the mind, external influences that gives our thoughts of words and sentences meaning and we are not wholly dependent on what we think something means. This theory supports the idea of realism. -
Twin Earth
Putnam proposed the thought experiment of the Twin Earth theory in 1973 in his "Meanings and Reference". It was devised to show his claim that two earth exists, because of how different words can be describe differently depending on the speaker. It was meant to showcase his argument of semantic externalism. -
Brain in a Vat
Hilary Putnam argued against the idea that we are just brain a vat. His presentation with the idea we cannot be brain in a vat due to if we think a certain way it will be in conflict with a real brain and a simulated one. His argument was criticized by many philosophers who made counterarguments against his.