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Early Life
Putnam was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1926. His father, Samuel Putnam, was a scholar of Romance languages, columnist, and translator who wrote for the Daily Worker, a publication of the American Communist Party, from 1936 to 1946. As a result of his father's commitment to communism, Putnam had a secular upbringing, although his mother, Riva, was Jewish. The family lived in France until 1934, when they returned to the United States, settling in Philadelphia. -
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Known as an American philosopher, mathematician, and computer scientist, and a major figure in analytic philosophy in the second half of the 20th century.
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Education
Putnam studied mathematics and philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania and attended graduate school in philosophy at Harvard University and the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). At UCLA he wrote a dissertation, under Hans Reichenbach, on the concept of probability, obtaining a Ph.D. in 1951. -
Professor Putnam
He taught philosophy at Northwestern University, Princeton University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) until 1976, when he joined the philosophy department at Harvard. He retired as Cogan University Professor Emeritus at Harvard in 2000. -
Realism and Meaning
Change occurred in 1976, when he launched an attack on the view he called “metaphysical realism,” recommending that “internal realism” be adopted in its stead. Internal realism, in turn, was also modified. However, it became exceedingly clear that Putnam’s commitment to realism overrode the nuanced differences between the various versions of realism he espoused. The clearest indication of this core stability is the centrality of his theory of meaning to all his versions of realism. -
Varieties of Realism
Beginning in the mid-1970s, Putnam sought to distinguish his understanding of realism from what he now called “metaphysical realism.” For Putnam, this picture of word-world correspondence is absurd, pointing to a realism gone wild. Putnam considered metaphysical realism to be blind to the autonomy and complexity of human language. In particular, it is blind to the fact that the same reality can be described in multiple ways. -
Rejection of Functionalism
In the late 1980s, Putnam abandoned his adherence to functionalism and other computational theories of mind. His change of mind was primarily due to the difficulties computational theories have in explaining certain intuitions with respect to the externalism of mental content. This is illustrated by Putnam's own Twin Earth thought experiment. -
Life after Teaching
Putnam retired from active teaching in 2000, but continued to lecture at Tel Aviv University. He also served as the Spinoza Chair of Philosophy at the University of Amsterdam in 2001. -
Putnam's Medal
Hilary Putnam, one of the most influential and prolific American philosophers of the past fifty years, was awarded the UCD Ulysses Medal, the highest honor that the university can bestow. -
Putnam Prize Awards
For his contributions in philosophy and logic, Putnam was awarded the Rolf Schock Prize in 2011 and the Nicholas Rescher Prize for Systematic Philosophy in 2015. -
Putnam's Death
He died on 13 March 2016 at 89. The cause was metastasized mesothelioma, his daughter-in-law Rebecca Steinitz said. -
Resoures
"Hilary Putnam." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Web. 03 Feb. 2021.
"Hilary Putnam." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 17 Jan. 2021. Web. 03 Feb. 2021.
"UCD News." UCD News - US Philosopher Awarded UCD Ulysses Medal. Web. 03 Feb. 2021.
