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Birth
Hilary Putnam (male) was born July 13, 1926 in Chicago Illinois to Samuel Putnam his father. -
College
Graduated with his PhD at UCLA where he worked with Hans Reichenbach where he wrote a dissertation on the concept of probability. -
Period: to
Working non-stop
He taught Philosophy at Northwest University (1951-2), Princeton University (1953-61), M.I.T (1961-65) where he organized one of the first faculty and student committee against the Vietnam War. -
First Marriage
Putnam married his first wife Erna Diesendruck and they had one daughter named Erika before divorcing in 1962. -
Turning point
Putnam left Progressive Labor in 1972. Simultaneously he was beginning to reject scientific realism, which claims that reality is independent of mind and language, and to develop his theory of semantic externalism, which argues that meaning is not a matter of subjective mind-set, nor of an objective match between word and object, but a social phenomenon. -
Harvard instructing
In 1976 he joined the Philosophy department at Harvard University and launched an attack on the view he called “Metaphysical Realism” recommending that “internal realism” be adapted in its stead. -
Scientistic no more
In the 1980s he became increasingly dissatisfied with functionalism – it conflicted with his theory of externalism, and was, he had come to think, too scientistic. -
Retirement
After retiring he continued to teach and write and devoted himself to tending his vegetable garden with his second wife Ruth Anna. Putnam continued to write and publish until 2014. -
Death and a short video
Hilary Putnam Died at age 86. https://youtu.be/0JMdgPDU0SM -
References
-“Hilary Putnam.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., www.britannica.com/biography/Hilary-Putnam. -----“Hilary Putnam.” Department of Philosophy, philosophy.fas.harvard.edu/people/hilary-putnam.
-“Hilary Putnam Obituary.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 14 Mar. 2016, www.theguardian.com/books/2016/mar/14/hilary-putnam-obituary.
