Western Philosophy 20th-century philosophy
Name	Hilary Whitehall Putnam
Birth	July 31, 1926 Chicago, Illinois
School/tradition	Analytic
Main interests	Philosophy of mind Philosophy of language Philosophy of mathematics Metaphilosophy Epistemology
Notable ideas	Multiple realizability Functionalism Causal theory of reference Semantic externalism Brain in a vat · Twin Earth Internal realism
Influenced by	W.V.O. Quine · Hans Reichenbach Alan Turing · Immanuel Kant Nelson Goodman · Charles Peirce William James · Ludwig Wittgenstein
Influenced	Jerry Fodor · Ned Block Joseph LeDoux · Tyler Burge David Marr · Daniel Dennett David Lewis · Donald Davidson

Hilary Whitehall Putnam (born July 31, 1926) is an American philosopher who has been a central figure in Western philosophy since the 1960s, especially in philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, and philosophy of science. See also [[Analytic philosophy]] and [[Continental philosophy]] The 20th century brought with it upheavals that produced a series of conflicting developments within Philosophy Events 30 BC - Battle of Alexandria: Mark Antony achieves a minor victory over Octavian 's forces but most of his army subsequently Year 1926 ( MCMXXVI) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Chicago (ʃɪˈkɑːgoʊ is the largest City by population in the state of Illinois and the American Midwest of the United States. The State of Illinois ( roughly ill-i-NOY is a state of the United States of America, the 21st to be admitted to the Union. Analytic philosophy (sometimes analytical philosophy) is a generic term for a style of Philosophy that came to dominate English-speaking countries in the 20th century Philosophy of mind is the branch of Philosophy that studies the nature of the Mind, Mental events Mental functions mental properties Philosophy of language is the reasoned inquiry into the nature origins and usage of Language. The philosophy of mathematics is the branch of Philosophy that studies the philosophical assumptions foundations and implications of Mathematics. Metaphilosophy (from Greek Meta + Philosophy) is the study of the subject and matter methods and aims of Philosophy Epistemology (from Greek επιστήμη - episteme, "knowledge" + λόγος, " Logos " or theory of knowledge Multiple realizability, in Philosophy of mind, is the thesis that the same mental property state or event can be implemented by different physical properties states Functionalism is a theory of the mind in contemporary Philosophy, developed largely as an alternative to both the Identity theory of mind and Behaviourism A causal theory of reference is any of a family of views about how terms acquire specific referents. In the Philosophy of language, semantic externalism is the view that the meaning of a term is determined in whole or in part by factors external to the speaker Evil daemonIn Philosophy, the brain in a vat is any of a variety of Thought experiments intended to draw out certain features of our ideas of knowledge reality truth The Twin Earth thought experiment was presented by philosopher Hilary Putnam in his 1973 paper "Meaning and Reference" and subsequent 1975 paper "The Willard Van Orman Quine (June 25 1908 Akron, Ohio &ndash December 25 2000 (known to intimates as "Van" Hans Reichenbach ( September 26, 1891 in Hamburg – April 9, 1953 in Los Angeles Alan Mathison Turing, OBE, FRS (ˈt(jʊ(ərɪŋ (23 June 1912 &ndash 7 June 1954 was an English Mathematician Immanuel Kant (ɪmanuəl kant 22 April 1724 12 February 1804 was an 18th-century German Philosopher from the Prussian city of Königsberg Henry Nelson Goodman ( 7 August 1906, Somerville Massachusetts &ndash 25 November 1998, Needham Massachusetts) Charles Sanders Peirce (pronounced purse) (September 10 1839 &ndash April 19 1914 was an American Logician mathematician, philosopher For other people named William James see William James (disambiguation William James (January 11 1842 – August 26 1910 was a pioneering Jerry Alan Fodor (born 1935 in New York City, New York) is an American philosopher and cognitive scientist. Ned Block (born 1942 is a philosopher of mind who has made important contributions to matters of Consciousness and Cognitive science. Joseph E LeDoux (born 1949 a neuroscientist, is the Henry and Lucy Moses Professor of Science and Professor of Neuroscience and Psychology at New Tyler Burge (born 1946 PhD Princeton University, 1971 is a Professor of Philosophy at UCLA. David Courtnay Marr ( January 19, 1945 - November 17, 1980) was a British Neuroscientist and Psychologist. Daniel Clement Dennett (born March 28 1942 in Boston, Massachusetts) is a prominent American philosopher whose research David Kellogg Lewis ( September 28, 1941  &ndash October 14, 2001) is considered to have been one of the leading philosophers of the latter Donald Herbert Davidson ( March 6, 1917  &ndash August 30, 2003) was an American Philosopher, who served as Slusser Events 30 BC - Battle of Alexandria: Mark Antony achieves a minor victory over Octavian 's forces but most of his army subsequently Year 1926 ( MCMXXVI) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language Western philosophy is a term that refers to philosophical thinking in the Western or Occidental world, as distinct from Eastern or Oriental philosophies Philosophy of mind is the branch of Philosophy that studies the nature of the Mind, Mental events Mental functions mental properties Philosophy of language is the reasoned inquiry into the nature origins and usage of Language. Philosophy of science is the study of assumptions foundations and implications of Science. ^[1] He is known for his willingness to apply an equal degree of scrutiny to his own philosophical positions as to those of others, subjecting each position to rigorous analysis until he exposes its flaws. ^[2] As a result, he has acquired a reputation for frequently changing his own position. ^[3]

In philosophy of mind, Putnam is known for his argument against the type-identity of mental and physical states based on his hypothesis of the multiple realizability of the mental, and for the concept of functionalism, an influential theory regarding the mind-body problem. Type physicalism (also known as Type Identity Theory, Mind-Brain Identity Theory and Identity Theory of Mind) is a theory in Philosophy of mind Multiple realizability, in Philosophy of mind, is the thesis that the same mental property state or event can be implemented by different physical properties states Functionalism is a theory of the mind in contemporary Philosophy, developed largely as an alternative to both the Identity theory of mind and Behaviourism Philosophy of mind is the branch of Philosophy that studies the nature of the Mind, Mental events Mental functions mental properties ^[1][4] In philosophy of language, along with Saul Kripke and others, he developed the causal theory of reference, and formulated an original theory of meaning, inventing the notion of semantic externalism based on a famous thought experiment called Twin Earth. Saul Aaron Kripke (born on November 13, 1940 in Bay Shore New York) is an American philosopher and Logician now Emeritus A causal theory of reference is any of a family of views about how terms acquire specific referents. Internalism and externalism are now part of the standard jargon of philosophical discourse and are central to important debates A thought experiment (from the German Gedankenexperiment) is a proposal for an Experiment that would test a Hypothesis or Theory The Twin Earth thought experiment was presented by philosopher Hilary Putnam in his 1973 paper "Meaning and Reference" and subsequent 1975 paper "The ^[5]

In philosophy of mathematics, he and his mentor W. V. Quine developed the "Quine-Putnam indispensability thesis," an argument for the reality of mathematical entities,^[6] later espousing the view that mathematics is not purely logical, but "quasi-empirical. The philosophy of mathematics is the branch of Philosophy that studies the philosophical assumptions foundations and implications of Mathematics. Willard Van Orman Quine (June 25 1908 Akron, Ohio &ndash December 25 2000 (known to intimates as "Van" Quasi-empiricism in Mathematics is the attempt in the Philosophy of mathematics to direct philosophers' attention to Mathematical practice, in "^[7] In the field of epistemology, he is known for the "brain in a vat" thought experiment, which challenges epistemological skepticism. Epistemology (from Greek επιστήμη - episteme, "knowledge" + λόγος, " Logos " or theory of knowledge Evil daemonIn Philosophy, the brain in a vat is any of a variety of Thought experiments intended to draw out certain features of our ideas of knowledge reality truth In ordinary usage skepticism or scepticism ( Greek 'σκέπτομαι' skeptomai, to look about to consider see also spelling differences ^[8] In metaphysics, he originally espoused a position called metaphysical realism, but eventually became one of its most outspoken critics, first adopting a view he called "internal realism",^[9] which he later abandoned in favor of a pragmatist-inspired direct realism. Metaphysics is the branch of Philosophy investigating principles of reality transcending those of any particular science Contemporary philosophical realism is the belief in a Reality that is completely Ontologically independent of our conceptual schemes linguistic practices beliefs Pragmatism generally considered to have originated in the late nineteenth century with Charles Peirce, who first stated the Pragmatic maxim. Direct realism, also known as Naive realism or common sense realism is a theory of Perception that claims that the Senses provide us with direct Awareness Putnam's "direct realism" aims to return the study of metaphysics to the way people actually experience the world, rejecting the idea of mental representations, sense data, and other intermediaries between mind and world. The concept of sense data (singular sense datum) is very influential and widely used in the Philosophy of perception. ^[10]

Outside philosophy, Putnam has contributed to mathematics and computer science. Mathematics is the body of Knowledge and Academic discipline that studies such concepts as Quantity, Structure, Space and Computer science (or computing science) is the study and the Science of the theoretical foundations of Information and Computation and their He developed the Davis–Putnam algorithm for the Boolean satisfiability problem, with Martin Davis,^[11] and helped demonstrate the unsolvability of Hilbert's tenth problem. The Davis–Putnam algorithm was developed by Martin Davis and Hilary Putnam for checking the validity of a First-order logic formula This page is on the mathematician For the former tennis player see Martin Davis (tennis. Hilbert's tenth problem is the tenth on the list of Hilbert's problems of 1900 ^[12] He has been at times a politically controversial figure, especially for his involvement with the Progressive Labor Party in the late 1960s and early 1970s. ^[13][14]

Biography

Putnam was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1926. Chicago (ʃɪˈkɑːgoʊ is the largest City by population in the state of Illinois and the American Midwest of the United States. The State of Illinois ( roughly ill-i-NOY is a state of the United States of America, the 21st to be admitted to the Union. His father, Samuel Putnam, was a journalist and translator who wrote for the Daily Worker, a publication of the American Communist Party. Samuel Putnam (1892-1950 was an American Translator and scholar of Romance languages. The Daily Worker was a newspaper published in New York City by the Communist Party USA, a Comintern -affiliated organization The Communist Party of the United States of America ( CPUSA) is a Marxist-Leninist Political party in the United States. As a result of his father's commitment to communism, Putnam had a secular upbringing, although his mother, Riva, was Jewish. Communism is a Socioeconomic structure that promotes the establishment of an egalitarian, classless, stateless Society based PLEASE TAKE NOTE************ ^[2] The family lived in France until 1934, when they returned to the United States, settling in Philadelphia. Philadelphia (ˌfɪləˈdɛlfiə ^[2] Putnam studied mathematics and philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania, receiving his BA (undergraduate degree) and becoming a member of the Philomathean Society, the oldest U. The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn) is a private University located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. The Philomathean Society of the University of Pennsylvania is the oldest continuously-existing Literary society in the United States and S. literary society. ^[13][2] He went on to do graduate work in philosophy at Harvard University,^[2] and later at UCLA, where he received his Ph.D. in 1951 for a dissertation entitled "The Meaning of the Concept of Probability in Application to Finite Sequences". The University of California Los Angeles (generally known as UCLA) is a public research university located in Westwood Los Angeles, California, United "PhD" redirects here for other uses see PhD (disambiguation. Putnam's teachers Hans Reichenbach (his dissertation supervisor) and Rudolf Carnap were leading figures in logical positivism, the dominant school of philosophy of the day; one of Putnam's most consistent positions has been his rejection of logical positivism as self-defeating. Hans Reichenbach ( September 26, 1891 in Hamburg – April 9, 1953 in Los Angeles Rudolf Carnap ( May 18, 1891 &ndash September 14, 1970) was an influential German -born philosopher who was active in Logical positivism (later and more accurately called logical empiricism) is a school of philosophy that combines Empiricism, the idea that observational evidence is ^[13]

After briefly teaching at Northwestern, Princeton, and MIT, he moved to Harvard in 1965 with his wife, Ruth Anna Jacobs, who also took a teaching position in philosophy at MIT. Princeton University is a private Coeducational research university located in Princeton, New Jersey. ^[13] Hilary and Ruth Anna were married in 1962. ^[15] Ruth Anna Jacobs, descendant of an old German scholarship family in Gotha (her ancestor was the German classical scholar Christian Friedrich Wilhelm Jacobs), was born in Berlin, Germany^[16], in 1927 to anti-Nazi political-activist parents and, like Putnam himself, she was raised an atheist. Christian Friedrich Wilhelm Jacobs ( October 6, 1764 - March 30, 1847) German Classical scholar, was born at Gotha Berlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. The, officially National Socialist German Workers' Party, ( abbreviated NSDAP) was a Political party in Germany between 1919 and 1945 Atheism ^[15] The Putnams, rebelling against the anti-Semitism that they had experienced during their youth, decided to establish a traditional Jewish home for their children. Antisemitism (alternatively spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism; also rarely known as judeophobia) is the Prejudice against or hostility ^[15] Since they had no experience with the rituals of Judaism, they sought out invitations to other Jews' homes for Seder. Judaism (from the Greek Ioudaïsmos, derived from the Hebrew יהודה Yehudah, " Judah " in Hebrew יַהֲדוּת Yahedut The Passover Seder Meal ( Hebrew: סֵדֶר seðɛɾ "order" "arrangement" is a Jewish ritual feast held on the first (and for some the They had "no idea how to do it [themselves]", in the words of Ruth Anna. They therefore began to study Jewish ritual and Hebrew, and became more Jewishly interested, identified, and active. In 1994, Hilary Putnam celebrated a belated Bar Mitzvah service. In Judaism, Bar Mitzvah ( Hebrew: בר מצוה "one (m to whom the commandments apply" Bat Mitzvah (בת מצוה "one (f His wife had a Bat Mitzvah service four years later. In Judaism, Bar Mitzvah ( Hebrew: בר מצוה "one (m to whom the commandments apply" Bat Mitzvah (בת מצוה "one (f ^[15]

Putnam was a popular teacher at Harvard. In keeping with the family tradition, he was politically active. ^[13] In the 1960s and early 1970s, he was an active supporter of civil rights causes and an opponent of American military intervention in Vietnam. The American Civil Rights Movement (1955–1968 refers to the reform movements in the United States aimed at abolishing racial discrimination against African Opposition to US involvement in the Vietnam War is significant because domestic protest in the U The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War, or the Vietnam Conflict, occurred in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia ^[14] In 1963, he organized one of the first faculty and student committees at MIT against the war. He publicly expressed his outrage against the reporting of David Halberstam. David Halberstam ( April 10 1934 – April 23 2007) was an American Pulitzer Prize -winning Journalist Putnam was disturbed by what he perceived to be a claim by Halberstam that the U. S. was "defending" South Vietnamese peasants from the Vietcong by poisoning their rice crops. ^[13] After moving to Harvard in 1965, he organized campus protests and began teaching courses on Marxism. Marxism is the political philosophy and practice derived from the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. He became an official faculty advisor to the Students for a Democratic Society and, in 1968, became a member of the Progressive Labor Party (PLP). Students for a Democratic Society ( SDS) was historically a student activist movement in the United States that was one of the main iconic representations The Progressive Labor Party (originally the Progressive Labor Movement and often referred to as PL) is a transnational Communist party based ^[13]

After 1968, his political activities were centered on the PLP. ^[14] The Harvard administration considered these activities disruptive and attempted to censure Putnam, but two other faculty criticized the procedures. ^[17] Putnam permanently severed his ties with the PLP in 1972. ^[18] In 1997, at a meeting of former draft resistance activists at Arlington Street Church in Boston, Putnam described his involvement with the PLP as a mistake. Arlington Street Church is a Unitarian Universalist church located in Boston Massachusetts. He said that he had been impressed at first with PLP's commitment to alliance-building, and its willingness to attempt to organize from within the armed forces. ^[14]

In 1976, he was elected President of the American Philosophical Association. The American Philosophical Association is the main professional organization for Philosophers in the United States. The following year, he was selected as Walter Beverly Pearson Professor of Mathematical Logic, in recognition of his contributions to philosophy of logic and mathematics. This article is about philosophy of logic, not Philosophical logic. ^[13] While breaking with his radical past, Putnam has never abandoned his belief that academics have a particular social and ethical responsibility toward society. He has continued to be forthright and progressive in his political views, as expressed in the articles "How Not to Solve Ethical Problems" (1983) and "Education for Democracy" (1993). Progressivism is a term that refers to a broad school of international social and political philosophies. ^[13]

Professor Putnam is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy. The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS is an organization dedicated to scholarship and the advancement of learning The British Academy is the United Kingdom 's National academy for the Humanities and the Social sciences It was established by Royal Charter He retired from teaching in June 2000. He is the Cogan University Professor Emeritus at Harvard University. His corpus includes five volumes of collected works, seven books, and more than 200 articles. Putnam's renewed interest in Judaism has inspired him to publish several recent books and essays on the topic. With his wife, he has co-authored several books and essays on the late-19th century American pragmatist movement. Pragmatism generally considered to have originated in the late nineteenth century with Charles Peirce, who first stated the Pragmatic maxim. ^[13]

Philosophy of mind

Multiple realizability

An illustration of multiple realizability. M stands for mental and P stands for physical. It can be seen that more than one P can instantiate one M, but not vice versa. Causal relations between states are represented by the arrows (M1 goes to M2, etc. )

Putnam's best-known work concerns philosophy of mind. His most noted original contributions to that field came in several key papers published in the late 1960s that set out the hypothesis of multiple realizability. Multiple realizability, in Philosophy of mind, is the thesis that the same mental property state or event can be implemented by different physical properties states ^[19] In these papers, Putnam argues that, contrary to the famous claim of the type-identity theory, it is not necessarily true that "Pain is identical to C-fibre firing. Type physicalism (also known as Type Identity Theory, Mind-Brain Identity Theory and Identity Theory of Mind) is a theory in Philosophy of mind Pain, in the sense of physical pain, is a typical sensory experience that may be described as the unpleasant awareness of a noxious stimulus or bodily harm Structure and Anatomy Location C fibers are found in the peripheral nerves of the somatic sensory system. " Pain, according to Putnam's papers, may correspond to utterly different physical states of the nervous system in different organisms, and yet they all experience the same mental state of "being in pain".

Putnam cited examples from the animal kingdom to illustrate his thesis. He asked whether it was likely that the brain structures of diverse types of animals realize pain, or other mental states, the same way. If they do not share the same brain structures, they cannot share the same mental states and properties. Animal cognition is the title given to a modern approach to the mental capacities of (non-human Animals. The answer to this puzzle had to be that mental states were realized by different physical states in different species. Putnam then took his argument a step further, asking about such things as the nervous systems of alien beings, artificially intelligent robots and other silicon-based life forms. Silicon (ˈsɪlɪkən or /ˈsɪlɪkɒn/ silicium is the Chemical element that has the symbol Si and Atomic number 14 These hypothetical entities, he contended, should not be considered incapable of experiencing pain just because they lack the same neurochemistry as humans. Neurochemistry is the branch of Neuroscience devoted to the study of Neurochemicals A neurochemical is an organic molecule that participates in neural activity Putnam concluded that type-identity theorists had been making an "ambitious" and "highly implausible" conjecture which could be disproven with one example of multiple realizability. ^[20] This argument is sometimes referred to as the "likelihood argument". ^[19]

Putnam formulated a complementary argument based on what he called "functional isomorphism". He defined the concept in these terms: "Two systems are functionally isomorphic if 'there is a correspondence between the states of one and the states of the other that preserves functional relations'. " In the case of computers, two machines are functionally isomorphic if and only if the sequential relations among states in the first are exactly mirrored by the sequential relations among states in the other. Therefore, a computer made out of silicon chips and a computer made out of cogs and wheels can be functionally isomorphic but constitutionally diverse. Functional isomorphism implies multiple realizability. ^[20] This argument is sometimes referred to as an "a priori argument". "A priori" redirects here For other uses see A priori. ^[19]

Jerry Fodor, Putnam, and others noted that, along with being an effective argument against type-identity theories, multiple realizability implies that any low-level explanation of higher-level mental phenomena is insufficiently abstract and general. Jerry Alan Fodor (born 1935 in New York City, New York) is an American philosopher and cognitive scientist. ^[21][22][20] Functionalism, which identifies mental kinds with functional kinds that are characterized exclusively in terms of causes and effects, abstracts from the level of microphysics, and therefore seemed to be a better explanation of the relation between mind and body. Functionalism is a theory of the mind in contemporary Philosophy, developed largely as an alternative to both the Identity theory of mind and Behaviourism In fact, there are many functional kinds, such as mousetraps, software and bookshelves, which are multiply realized at the physical level. ^[20]

Machine state functionalism

A Turing machine can be visualized as an infinite tape of slots that are written or erased one at a time, with the choice of action determined by a "state". Turing machines are basic abstract symbol-manipulating devices which despite their simplicity can be adapted to simulate the logic of any Computer Algorithm According to Putnam's machine-state functionalism, the notions of state in an abstract computer and mental state are essentially the same.

The first formulation of such a functionalist theory was put forth by Putnam himself. This formulation, which is now called "machine-state functionalism", was inspired by analogies noted by Putnam and others between the mind and theoretical "Turing machines" capable of computing any given algorithm. Turing machines are basic abstract symbol-manipulating devices which despite their simplicity can be adapted to simulate the logic of any Computer Algorithm In Mathematics, Computing, Linguistics and related subjects an algorithm is a sequence of finite instructions often used for Calculation ^[23]

In non-technical terms, a Turing machine can be visualized as an infinitely long tape divided into squares (the memory) with a box-shaped scanning device that sits over and scans one square of the memory at a time. Each square is either blank (B) or has a 1 written on it. These are the inputs to the machine. The possible outputs are:

• Halt: Do nothing.
• R: move one square to the right.
• L: move one square to the left.
• B: erase whatever is on the square.
• 1: erase whatever is on the square and print a 1.

A simple example of a Turing machine which writes out the sequence '111' after scanning three blank squares and then stopping is specified by the following machine table:

This table states that if the machine is in state one and scans a blank square (B), it will print a 1 and remain in state one. If it is in state one and reads a 1, it will move one square to the right and also go into state two. If it is in state two and reads a B, it will print a 1 and stay in state two. If it's in state two and reads a 1, it will move one square to the right and go into state three. Finally, if it is in state three and reads a B, it prints a 1 and remains in state three. ^[24]

The point, for functionalism, is the nature of the "states" of the Turing machine. Each state can be defined in terms of its relations to the other states and to the inputs and outputs. State one, for example, is simply the state in which the machine, if it reads a B, writes a 1 and stays in that state, and in which, if it reads a 1, it moves one square to the right and goes into a different state. This is the functional definition of state one; it is its causal role in the overall system. The details of how it accomplishes what it accomplishes and of its material constitution are completely irrelevant.

According to machine-state functionalism, the nature of a mental state is just like the nature of the automaton states described above. Just as "state one" simply is the state in which, given an input B, such-and-such happens, so being in pain is the state which disposes one to cry "ouch", become distracted, wonder what the cause is, and so forth. ^[25]

Rejection of functionalism

In the late 1980s, Putnam abandoned his adherence to functionalism and other computational theories of mind. In philosophy, the computational theory of mind is the view that the human Mind is best conceived as an Information processing system and that His change of mind was primarily due to the difficulties that computational theories have in explaining certain intuitions with respect to the externalism of mental content. Internalism and externalism are now part of the standard jargon of philosophical discourse and are central to important debates This is illustrated by Putnam's own Twin Earth thought experiment (see Philosophy of language). The Twin Earth thought experiment was presented by philosopher Hilary Putnam in his 1973 paper "Meaning and Reference" and subsequent 1975 paper "The A thought experiment (from the German Gedankenexperiment) is a proposal for an Experiment that would test a Hypothesis or Theory ^[10] He also developed a separate argument against functionalism in 1988, based on Fodor's generalized version of multiple realizability. Asserting that functionalism is really a watered-down identity theory in which mental kinds are identified with functional kinds, Putnam argued that mental kinds may be multiply realizable over functional kinds. Type physicalism (also known as Type Identity Theory, Mind-Brain Identity Theory and Identity Theory of Mind) is a theory in Philosophy of mind The argument for functionalism is that the same mental state could be implemented by the different states of a universal Turing machine. ^[26]

Despite Putnam's rejection of functionalism, it has continued to flourish and has been developed into numerous versions by thinkers as diverse as David Marr, Daniel Dennett, Jerry Fodor, and David Lewis. David Courtnay Marr ( January 19, 1945 - November 17, 1980) was a British Neuroscientist and Psychologist. Daniel Clement Dennett (born March 28 1942 in Boston, Massachusetts) is a prominent American philosopher whose research Jerry Alan Fodor (born 1935 in New York City, New York) is an American philosopher and cognitive scientist. David Kellogg Lewis ( September 28, 1941  &ndash October 14, 2001) is considered to have been one of the leading philosophers of the latter ^[27] Functionalism helped lay the foundations for modern cognitive science^[27] and is the dominant theory of mind in philosophy today. Cognitive science may be broadly defined as the multidisciplinary study of mind and behavior ^[28]

Philosophy of language

Semantic externalism

One of Putnam's contributions to philosophy of language is his claim that "meaning just ain't in the head". Philosophy of language is the reasoned inquiry into the nature origins and usage of Language. He illustrated this using his "Twin Earth" thought experiment to argue that environmental factors play a substantial role in determining meaning. Twin Earth shows this, according to Putnam, since on Twin Earth everything is identical to Earth, except that its lakes, rivers and oceans are filled with XYZ whereas those of earth are filled with H2O. Consequently, when an earthling, Fredrick, uses the Earth-English word "water", it has a different meaning from the Twin Earth-English word "water" when used by his physically identical twin, Frodrick, on Twin Earth. Since Fredrick and Frodrick are physically indistinguishable when they utter their respective words, and since their words have different meanings, meaning cannot be determined solely by what is in their heads. This led Putnam to adopt a version of semantic externalism with regard to meaning and mental content. In the Philosophy of language, semantic externalism is the view that the meaning of a term is determined in whole or in part by factors external to the speaker ^[20][8] The late philosopher of mind and language Donald Davidson, despite his many differences of opinion with Putnam, wrote that semantic externalism constituted an "anti-subjectivist revolution" in philosophers' way of seeing the world. Donald Herbert Davidson ( March 6, 1917  &ndash August 30, 2003) was an American Philosopher, who served as Slusser Since the time of Descartes, philosophers had been concerned with proving knowledge from the basis of subjective experience. Thanks to Putnam, Tyler Burge and others, philosophy could now take the objective realm for granted and start questioning the alleged "truths" of subjective experience. Tyler Burge (born 1946 PhD Princeton University, 1971 is a Professor of Philosophy at UCLA. ^[29]

Theory of meaning

Putnam, along with Saul Kripke, Keith Donnellan and others, contributed to what is known as the causal theory of reference. Saul Aaron Kripke (born on November 13, 1940 in Bay Shore New York) is an American philosopher and Logician now Emeritus Keith Donnellan (born 1931 is a contemporary Philosopher and Professor Emeritus at the University of California Los Angeles. A causal theory of reference is any of a family of views about how terms acquire specific referents. ^[1] In particular, Putnam maintained in The Meaning of "Meaning" that the objects referred to by natural kind terms—such as tiger, water, and tree—are the principal elements of the meaning of such terms. In Philosophy a natural kind is a grouping of things which is a natural grouping not an artificial one There is a linguistic division of labor, analogous to Adam Smith's economic division of labor, according to which such terms have their references fixed by the "experts" in the particular field of science to which the terms belong. Adam Smith ( baptised 16 June 1723 – 17 July 1790) was a Scottish moral philosopher and a pioneer of Political economy. So, for example, the reference of the term "lion" is fixed by the community of zoologists, the reference of the term "elm tree" is fixed by the community of botanists, and the reference of the term "table salt" is fixed as "NaCl" by chemists. These referents are considered rigid designators in the Kripkean sense and are disseminated outward to the linguistic community. Philosophy of language]]In Modal logic and the Philosophy of language, a term is said to be a rigid designator when it designates (picks out denotes refers to the same thing ^[20]

Putnam specifies a finite sequence of elements (a vector) for the description of the meaning of every term in the language. Such a vector consists of four components:

1. the object to which the term refers, e. In general a reference is a relation between objects in which one object designates by linking to another object g. , the object individuated by the chemical formula H₂O;
2. a set of typical descriptions of the term, referred to as "the stereotype", e. g. , "transparent", "colorless" and "hydrating";
3. the semantic indicators that place the object into a general category, e. g. , "natural kind" and "liquid"; and
4. the syntactic indicators, e. g. , "concrete noun" and "mass noun".

Such a "meaning-vector" provides a description of the reference and use of an expression within a particular linguistic community. It provides the conditions for its correct usage and makes it possible to judge whether a single speaker attributes the appropriate meaning to that expression, or whether its use has changed enough to cause a difference in its meaning. According to Putnam, it is legitimate to speak of a change in the meaning of an expression only if the reference of the term, and not its stereotype, has changed. However, since there is no possible algorithm that can determine which aspect—the stereotype or the reference—has changed in a particular case, it is necessary to consider the usage of other expressions of the language. ^[20] Since there is no limit to the number of such expressions which must be considered, Putnam embraced a form of semantic holism. Semantic holism is a doctrine in the Philosophy of language to the effect that a certain part of language be it a term or a complete sentence can only be understood through ^[30]

Philosophy of mathematics

Putnam made a significant contribution to philosophy of mathematics in the Quine-Putnam "indispensability argument" for mathematical realism. The philosophy of mathematics is the branch of Philosophy that studies the philosophical assumptions foundations and implications of Mathematics. The philosophy of mathematics is the branch of Philosophy that studies the philosophical assumptions foundations and implications of Mathematics. ^[23] This argument is considered by Stephen Yablo to be one of the most challenging arguments in favor of the acceptance of the existence of abstract mathematical entities, such as numbers and sets. Stephen Yablo is a philosopher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT ^[31] The form of the argument is as follows.

(a) One must have ontological commitments to all entities that are indispensable to the best scientific theories, and to those entities only (commonly referred to as "all and only"). In Philosophy, ontology (from the Greek, genitive: of being (part

(b) Mathematical entities are indispensable to the best scientific theories. Therefore,

(c) One must have ontological commitments to mathematical entities. ^[32]

The justification for the first premise is the most controversial. Both Putnam and Quine invoke naturalism to justify the exclusion of all non-scientific entities, and hence to defend the "only" part of "all and only". Philosophical naturalism has been described in various ways In its broadest and strongest sense naturalism is the metaphysical position that "nature is all there is The assertion that "all" entities postulated in scientific theories, including numbers, should be accepted as real is justified by confirmation holism. Confirmation holism, also called epistemological holism is the claim that a single Scientific theory cannot be tested in isolation a test of one theory always depends Since theories are not confirmed in a piecemeal fashion, but as a whole, there is no justification for excluding any of the entities referred to in well-confirmed theories. This puts the nominalist who wishes to exclude the existence of sets and non-Euclidean geometry, but to include the existence of quarks and other undetectable entities of physics, for example, in a difficult position. Nominalism is a metaphysical view in Philosophy according to which general or abstract terms and predicates exist but that either universals In mathematics non-Euclidean geometry describes how this all works--> hyperbolic and Elliptic geometry, which are contrasted with Euclidean geometry In Physics, a quark (kwɔrk kwɑːk or kwɑːrk is a type of Subatomic particle. ^[32]

Putnam holds the view that mathematics, like physics and other empirical sciences, uses both strict logical proofs and "quasi-empirical" methods. Quasi-empiricism in Mathematics is the attempt in the Philosophy of mathematics to direct philosophers' attention to Mathematical practice, in For example, Fermat's last theorem states that for no integer n > 2 are there positive integer values of x, y, and z such that xⁿ + yⁿ = zⁿ. Fermat's Last Theorem is the name of the statement in Number theory that It is impossible to separate any power higher than the second into two like The integers (from the Latin integer, literally "untouched" hence "whole" the word entire comes from the same origin but via French Before this was proven for all n > 2 in 1995 by Andrew Wiles,^[33] it had been proven for many values of n. Sir Andrew John Wiles KBE FRS (born 11 April 1953 is a British Mathematician and a professor at Princeton University These proofs inspired further research in the area, and formed a quasi-empirical consensus for the theorem. Even though such knowledge is more conjectural than a strictly proven theorem, it was still used in developing other mathematical ideas. ^[7]

Mathematics and computer science

Putnam has contributed to scientific fields not directly related to his work in philosophy. ^[1] As a mathematician, Putnam contributed to the resolution of Hilbert's tenth problem in mathematics. Hilbert's tenth problem is the tenth on the list of Hilbert's problems of 1900 Yuri Matiyasevich had formulated a theorem involving the use of Fibonacci numbers in 1970, which was designed to answer the question of whether there is a general algorithm that can decide whether a given system of Diophantine equations (polynomials with integer coefficients) has a solution among the integers. Yuri Vladimirovich Matiyasevich, (Юрий Владимирович Матиясевич born March 2, 1947 in Leningrad) is a Russian Mathematician In Mathematics, a theorem is a statement proven on the basis of previously accepted or established statements In Mathematics, the Fibonacci numbers are a Sequence of numbers named after Leonardo of Pisa, known as Fibonacci In Mathematics, Computing, Linguistics and related subjects an algorithm is a sequence of finite instructions often used for Calculation In Mathematics, a Diophantine equation is an indeterminate Polynomial Equation that allows the variables to be Integers only In Mathematics, a polynomial is an expression constructed from Variables (also known as indeterminates and Constants using the operations The integers (from the Latin integer, literally "untouched" hence "whole" the word entire comes from the same origin but via French Putnam, working with Martin Davis and Julia Robinson, demonstrated that Matiyasevich's theorem was sufficient to prove that no such general algorithm can exist. This page is on the mathematician For the former tennis player see Martin Davis (tennis. Julia Hall Bowman Robinson ( December 8, 1919 – July 30, 1985) was an American Mathematician, born in St It was therefore shown that David Hilbert's famous tenth problem has no solution. David Hilbert ( January 23, 1862 &ndash February 14, 1943) was a German Mathematician, recognized as one of the most ^[12]

In computer science, Putnam is known for the Davis-Putnam algorithm for the Boolean satisfiability problem (SAT), developed with Martin Davis in 1960. Computer science (or computing science) is the study and the Science of the theoretical foundations of Information and Computation and their The Davis–Putnam algorithm was developed by Martin Davis and Hilary Putnam for checking the validity of a First-order logic formula This page is on the mathematician For the former tennis player see Martin Davis (tennis. ^[1] The algorithm finds if there is a set of true or false values that satisfies a given Boolean expression so that the entire expression becomes true. In Mathematics, Computing, Linguistics and related subjects an algorithm is a sequence of finite instructions often used for Calculation A Boolean expression is an Expression that results in a Boolean value, that is TRUE or FALSE In 1962, they further refined the algorithm with the help of George Logemann and Donald W. Loveland. It became known as the DPLL algorithm. The DPLL/Davis-Putnam-Logemann-Loveland algorithm is a complete Backtracking -based Algorithm for deciding the satisfiability of propositional logic This algorithm is efficient and still forms the basis of most complete SAT solvers. ^[11]

Epistemology

A "brain in a vat"—Putnam uses this thought experiment to demonstrate that skeptical scenarios are impossible. Evil daemonIn Philosophy, the brain in a vat is any of a variety of Thought experiments intended to draw out certain features of our ideas of knowledge reality truth A thought experiment (from the German Gedankenexperiment) is a proposal for an Experiment that would test a Hypothesis or Theory

In the field of epistemology, Putnam is known for his "brain in a vat" thought experiment (a modernized version of Descartes' evil demon hypothesis). Epistemology (from Greek επιστήμη - episteme, "knowledge" + λόγος, " Logos " or theory of knowledge Evil daemonIn Philosophy, the brain in a vat is any of a variety of Thought experiments intended to draw out certain features of our ideas of knowledge reality truth A thought experiment (from the German Gedankenexperiment) is a proposal for an Experiment that would test a Hypothesis or Theory The evil demon, sometimes referred to as the evil genius, is a concept in Cartesian Philosophy. The argument is that one cannot coherently state that one is a disembodied "brain in a vat" placed there by some "mad scientist". ^[8]

This follows from the causal theory of reference. Words always refer to the kinds of things they were coined to refer to, thus the kinds of things their user, or her ancestors, experienced. So, if some person, Mary, were a "brain in a vat", whose every experience is received through wiring and other gadgetry created by the "mad scientist", then Mary's idea of a "brain" would not refer to a "real" brain, since she and her linguistic community have never seen such a thing. Rather, she saw something that looked like a brain, but was actually an image fed to her through the wiring. Similarly, her idea of a "vat" would not refer to a "real" vat. So, if, as a "brain in a vat", she were to say "I'm a brain in a vat", she would actually be saying "I'm a brain-image in a vat-image", which is incoherent. On the other hand, if she is not a "brain in a vat", then saying that she is still incoherent, but now because she actually means the opposite. This is a form of epistemological externalism: knowledge or justification depends on factors outside the mind and is not solely determined internally. Epistemology (from Greek επιστήμη - episteme, "knowledge" + λόγος, " Logos " or theory of knowledge Internalism and externalism are now part of the standard jargon of philosophical discourse and are central to important debates ^[8]

Putnam has clarified that his real target in this argument was never skepticism, but metaphysical realism. ^[34] Since realism of this kind assumes the existence of a gap between how man conceives the world and the way the world really is, skeptical scenarios such as this one (or Descartes' Evil demon) present a formidable challenge. The evil demon, sometimes referred to as the evil genius, is a concept in Cartesian Philosophy. Putnam, by showing that such a scenario is impossible, attempts to show that this notion of a gap between man's concept of the world and the way it is in itself is absurd. Man cannot have a "God's eye" view of reality. He is limited to his conceptual schemes. Metaphysical realism is therefore false, according to Putnam. ^[35]

Metaphilosophy and ontology

In the late 1970s and the 1980s, stimulated by results from mathematical logic and by some ideas of Quine, Putnam abandoned his long-standing defence of metaphysical realism—the view that the categories and structures of the external world are both causally and ontologically independent of the conceptualizations of the human mind. Contemporary philosophical realism is the belief in a Reality that is completely Ontologically independent of our conceptual schemes linguistic practices beliefs He adopted a rather different view, which he called "internal realism". Hilary Whitehall Putnam (born July 31 1926 is an American Philosopher who has been a central figure in Western philosophy since the 1960s especially in Philosophy ^[36][9]

Internal realism is the view that, although the world may be "causally" independent of the human mind, the structure of the world—its division into kinds, individuals and categories—is a function of the human mind, and hence the world is not "ontologically" independent. The general idea is influenced by Kant's idea of the dependence of our knowledge of the world on the "categories of thought". Immanuel Kant (ɪmanuəl kant 22 April 1724 12 February 1804 was an 18th-century German Philosopher from the Prussian city of Königsberg ^[37]

The problem with metaphysical realism, according to Putnam, is that it fails to explain the possibility of reference and truth. According to the metaphysical realist, our concepts and categories refer because they match up in some mysterious manner with the pre-structured categories, kinds and individuals that are inherent in the external world. But how is it possible that the world "carves up" into certain structures and categories, the mind carves up the world into its own categories and structures, and the two "carvings" perfectly coincide? The answer must be that the world does not come pre-structured but that structure must be imposed on it by the human mind and its conceptual schemes. ^[9]

Nelson Goodman had formulated a similar notion in Fact, Fiction and Forecast in 1956. Henry Nelson Goodman ( 7 August 1906, Somerville Massachusetts &ndash 25 November 1998, Needham Massachusetts) In that work, Goodman went as far as to suggest that there is "no one world, but many worlds, each created by the human mind. "^[38] Putnam rejected this form of social constructivism, but retained the idea that there can be many correct descriptions of reality. Social constructionism and social constructivism are sociological and psychological theories of Knowledge that consider how social phenomena develop in No one of these descriptions can be scientifically proven to be the "one, true" description of the world. This does not imply relativism, for Putnam, because not all descriptions are equally correct and the ones that are correct are not determined subjectively. Compare Moral relativism, Aesthetic relativism, Social constructionism, Cultural relativism, and Cognitive relativism. ^[39]

Under the influence of Charles Peirce and William James, Putnam also became convinced that there is no fact/value dichotomy. Charles Sanders Peirce (pronounced purse) (September 10 1839 &ndash April 19 1914 was an American Logician mathematician, philosopher For other people named William James see William James (disambiguation William James (January 11 1842 – August 26 1910 was a pioneering That is, ethical and aesthetic judgments often have a factual basis, while scientific judgments have an ethical element. ^[39]

Neopragmatism and Wittgenstein

At the end of the 1980s, Putnam became increasingly disillusioned with what he perceived as the "scientism" and rejection of history that characterize modern analytic philosophy. The term scientism can be used as a neutral term to describe the view that Natural science has authority over all other interpretations of life such as philosophical Analytic philosophy (sometimes analytical philosophy) is a generic term for a style of Philosophy that came to dominate English-speaking countries in the 20th century He rejected internal realism because it assumed a "cognitive interface" model of the relation between the mind and the world. Under the increasing influence of James and the pragmatists, he adopted a direct realist view of this relation. Pragmatism generally considered to have originated in the late nineteenth century with Charles Peirce, who first stated the Pragmatic maxim. Direct realism, also known as Naive realism or common sense realism is a theory of Perception that claims that the Senses provide us with direct Awareness Under the influence of Ludwig Wittgenstein, he adopted a pluralist view of philosophy itself and came to view most philosophical problems as nothing more than conceptual or linguistic confusions created by philosophers by using ordinary language out of its original context. ^[39]

Putnam's most recent works have focused on bringing philosophy out of its self-imposed shell and back to the world of ordinary people and ordinary social problems. ^[40] For example, he has written about the nature of democracy, social justice and religion. Democracy is a form of government in which the supreme power is held completely by the people under a free electoral system Social justice, sometimes called civil justice, refers to the concept of a Society in which Justice is achieved in every aspect of society rather than A religion is a set of Tenets and practices often centered upon specific Supernatural and moral claims about Reality, the Cosmos He has discussed the ideas of the continental philosopher, Jürgen Habermas, and has written articles influenced by "continental" ideas. Continental philosophy, in contemporary usage refers to a set of traditions of 19th and 20th century philosophy from mainland Europe Jürgen Habermas (ˈjʏʁgən ˈhaːbɐmaːs born June 18, 1929 is a German Philosopher and Sociologist in the tradition of ^[13]

Criticism

Ironically, Putnam himself may have been his own most formidable philosophical adversary. ^[5] His frequent changes of mind have led him to attack his previous positions. However, many significant criticisms of his views have come from other philosophers and scientists. For example, multiple realizability has been criticized on the grounds that, if it were true, research and experimentation in the neurosciences would be impossible. ^[41] According to Bechtel and Mundale, to be able to conduct such research in the neurosciences, universal consistencies must either exist or be assumed to exist in brain structures. It is the similarity (or homology) of brain structures that allows us to generalize across species. In Evolutionary biology, homology has come to mean any similarity between characters that is due to their shared ancestry. ^[41] If multiple realizability were an empirical fact, results from experiments conducted on one species of animal (or one organism) would not be meaningful when generalized to explain the behavior of another species (or organism of the same species). ^[42] Other criticisms of MR have been proposed by Jaegwon Kim, David Lewis, Robert Richardson and Patricia Churchland. Jaegwon Kim (born 1934 in Daegu, Korea (now in South Korea) is a Korean born American Philosopher currently working at David Kellogg Lewis ( September 28, 1941  &ndash October 14, 2001) is considered to have been one of the leading philosophers of the latter Patricia Smith Churchland (born July 16, 1943 in Oliver British Columbia, Canada) is a Canadian-American Philosopher working at the ^{[43][44][45][46]}

One of the main arguments against functionalism was formulated by Putnam himself: the Twin Earth thought experiment. The Twin Earth thought experiment was presented by philosopher Hilary Putnam in his 1973 paper "Meaning and Reference" and subsequent 1975 paper "The However, there have been other criticisms. The Chinese room argument by John Searle (1980) is a direct attack on the claim that thought can be represented as a set of functions. Philosophy of artificial intelligence The Chinese Room argument comprises a Thought experiment and associated Arguments by John Searle, who attempts John Rogers Searle (born July 31 1932 in Denver Colorado) is an American Philosopher and the Slusser Professor of Philosophy at the University The thought experiment is designed to show that it is possible to mimic intelligent action, without any interpretation or understanding, through the use of a purely functional system. In short, Searle describes a situation in which a person who speaks only English is locked in a room with Chinese symbols in baskets and a rule book in English for moving the symbols around. The person is instructed, by people outside the room, to follow the rule book for sending certain symbols out of the room when given certain symbols. Further, suppose that the people outside the room are Chinese speakers and are communicating with the person inside via the Chinese symbols. According to Searle, it would be absurd to claim that the English speaker inside "knows" Chinese based on these syntactic processes alone. This thought experiment attempts to show that systems that operate merely on syntactic processes cannot realize any semantics (meaning) or intentionality (aboutness). Semantics is the study of meaning in communication The word derives from Greek σημαντικός ( semantikos) "significant" from The term intentionality is often simplistically summarised as "aboutness" Thus, Searle attacks the idea that thought can be equated with the following of a set of syntactic rules. Thus, functionalism is an inadequate theory of the mind. ^[47] Several other arguments against functionalism have been advanced by Ned Block. Ned Block (born 1942 is a philosopher of mind who has made important contributions to matters of Consciousness and Cognitive science. ^[48]

Putnam has consistently adhered to the idea of semantic holism, in spite of the many changes in his other positions. Semantic holism is a doctrine in the Philosophy of language to the effect that a certain part of language be it a term or a complete sentence can only be understood through The problems with this position have been described by Michael Dummett, Jerry Fodor, Ernest Lepore, and others. Sir Michael Anthony Eardley Dummett FBA DLitt (born 1925 is a leading British Philosopher. Jerry Alan Fodor (born 1935 in New York City, New York) is an American philosopher and cognitive scientist. Ernest Lepore (born 1950 New Jersey) is an American Philosopher and cognitive scientist. In the first place, they suggest that, if semantic holism is true, it is impossible to understand how a speaker of a language can learn the meaning of an expression, for any expression of the language. Given the limits of our cognitive abilities, we will never be able to master the whole of the English (or any other) language, even based on the (false) assumption that languages are static and immutable entities. Thus, if one must understand all of a natural language to understand a single word or expression, language learning is simply impossible. Semantic holism also fails to explain how two speakers can mean the same thing when using the same linguistic expression, and therefore how any communication at all is possible between them. Given a sentence P, since Fred and Mary have each mastered different parts of the English language and P is related differently to the sentences in each part, the result is that P means one thing for Fred and something else for Mary. Moreover, if a sentence P derives its meaning from its relations with all of the sentences of a language, as soon as the vocabulary of an individual changes by the addition or elimination of a sentence, the totality of relations changes, and therefore also the meaning of P. As this is a common phenomenon, the result is that P has two different meanings in two different moments in the life of the same person. Consequently, if I accept the truth of a sentence and then reject it later on, the meaning of that which I rejected and that which I accepted are completely different and therefore I cannot change my opinions with regard to the same sentences. ^[49][50][51]

The brain in a vat argument has also been subject to criticism. Evil daemonIn Philosophy, the brain in a vat is any of a variety of Thought experiments intended to draw out certain features of our ideas of knowledge reality truth ^[52] Crispin Wright argues that Putnam's formulation of the brain-in-a-vat scenario is too narrow to refute global skepticism. Crispin Wright (born 1942 is a British Philosopher, who has written on neo- Fregean Philosophy of mathematics, Wittgenstein 's later The possibility that one is a recently disembodied brain in a vat is not undermined by semantic externalism. If a person has lived her entire life outside the vat—speaking the English language and interacting normally with the outside world—prior to her "envatment" by a mad scientist, when she wakes up inside the vat, her words and thoughts (e. g. , "tree" and "grass") will still refer to the objects or events in the external world that they referred to before her envatment. ^[53] In another scenario, a brain in a vat may be hooked up to a supercomputer that randomly generates perceptual experiences. A supercomputer is a Computer that is at the frontline of processing capacity particularly speed of calculation (at the time of its introduction In this case, one's words and thoughts would not refer to anything, and would therefore be devoid of content. Semantics would no longer exist and the argument would be meaningless. ^[54]

In philosophy of mathematics, Stephen Yablo has argued that the Quine-Putnam indispensability thesis does not demonstrate that mathematical entities are truly indispensable. Stephen Yablo is a philosopher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT The argumentation is sophisticated, but the upshot is that one can achieve the same logical results by simply replacing all occurrences of the expression "so-and-so exists" (e. g. , numbers exist) by occurrences of the expression "so-and-so is assumed (or hypothesized) to exist". For example, one can take the argument for indispensability described above and replace all references to existent entities with references to entities assumed to exist as follows.

(a) One must have ontological commitments to all and only the entities "that are assumed to exist" and are indispensable to the best scientific theories.

(b) Mathematical entities "that are assumed to exist" are indispensable to the best scientific theories.

Therefore, (c) One must have ontological commitments to mathematical entities "that are assumed to exist". ^[31]

Finally, Putnam's internal realism has been accused by Curtis Brown of being a disguised form of subjective idealism. In Western civilization, Idealism is the philosophy which maintains that the Ultimate nature of reality is ideal or based upon ideas values essences The so-called If this is the case, it is subject to the traditional arguments against that position. In particular, it falls into the trap of solipsism. Solipsism ( Latin: solus, alone + ipse, self is the philosophical idea that "My mind is the only thing that I know exists That is, if existence depends on experience, as subjective idealism maintains, and if one's consciousness were to stop existing, then the rest of the universe would stop existing as well. ^[37]

Major works

• Philosophy of Mathematics: Selected Readings. Edited with Paul Benacerraf. Englewood Cliffs, N. J. : Prentice-Hall, 1964. 2nd ed. , Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983. ISBN 0-521-29648-X
• Philosophy of Logic. New York: Harper and Row, 1971. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1972. ISBN 0-04-160009-6
• Mathematics, Matter and Method. Philosophical Papers, vol. 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1975. 2nd. ed. , 1985 paperback: ISBN 0-521-29550-5
• Mind, Language and Reality. Philosophical Papers, vol. 2. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1975. 2003 paperback: ISBN 0-521-29551-3
• Meaning and the Moral Sciences. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1978.
• Reason, Truth, and History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981. 2004 paperback: ISBN 0-521-29776-1
• Realism and Reason. Philosophical Papers, vol. 3. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983. 2002 paperback: ISBN 0-521-31394-5
• Methodology, Epistemology, and Philosophy of Science: Essays in Honour of Wolfgang Stegmüller. edited with Wilhelm K. Essler and Carl G. Hempel. Dordrecht: D. Reidel, 1983.
• Epistemology, Methodology, and Philosophy of Science: Essays in Honour of Carl G. Hempel. edited with Wilhelm K. Essler and Wolfgang Stegmüller. Dordrecht: D. Reidel, 1985.
• The Many Faces of Realism. La Salle, Ill. : Open Court, 1987. ISBN 0-81269043-5
• Representation and Reality. Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, 1988. ISBN 0-262-66074-1
• Realism with a Human Face. edited by James F. Conant. James Ferguson Conant (b June 10 1958 is an American Philosopher who has written extensively on topics in Philosophy of language, Ethics, Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 1990. ISBN 0-674-74945-6
• Renewing Philosophy. Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 1992. ISBN 0-674-76094-8
• Pursuits of Reason: Essays in Honor of Stanley Cavell. edited with Ted Cohen and Paul Guyer. Lubbock: Texas Tech University Press, 1993. ISBN 0-89672266-X
• Words and Life. edited by James F. Conant. Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 1994. ISBN 0-674-95607-9
• Pragmatism: An Open Question. Oxford: Blackwell, 1995. ISBN 0-63119343-X
• The Threefold Cord: Mind, Body, and World. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999. ISBN 0-231-10287-9
• Enlightenment and Pragmatism. Assen: Koninklijke Van Gorcum, 2001. 48pp.
• The Collapse of the Fact/Value Dichotomy and Other Essays. Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 2002. ISBN 0-674-01380-8
• Ethics Without Ontology. Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 2004. ISBN 0-674-01851-6

Works about Putnam

• Y. Ben-Menahem (ed. ), "Hilary Putnam (Contemporary Philosophy in Focus)", Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2005.
• P. Clark-B. Hale (eds. ), "Reading Putnam", Blackwell, Cambridge (Massachusetts)-Oxford 1995.
• C. S. Hill (ed. ), "The Philosophy of Hilary Putnam", Fayetteville, Arkansas 1992.
• M. Rüdel, "Erkenntnistheorie und Pragmatik: Untersuchungen zu Richard Rorty und Hilary Putnam", (Dissertation) Hamburg 1987.

Notes

References

External links

• An extensive bibliography.
• An extensive directory.
• Putnam, "The meaning of 'meaning'", in Mind, Language and Reality. Philosophical Papers, vol. 2. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, (1975)
• Hilary Putnam: On Mind, Meaning and Reality, Interview by Josh Harlan, The Harvard Review of Philosophy, spring 1992.
• Putnam, Hilary and Ruth Anna, "The Quarrel Between Poetry and Philosophy", read to the Santayana Society at its annual meeting in New York on December 28, 1995.
• The God Problem, recording of a discussion with Alvin Plantinga on The Connection radio show. Alvin Carl Plantinga (born 1932 is a contemporary American Philosopher known for his work in Epistemology, Metaphysics, and the Philosophy July 12, 2000.
• Putnam, "The Depths and Shallows of Experience", video lecture, UCSB, September 1, 2003. The University of California Santa Barbara ( UCSB) is a selective research-oriented public university located on the Pacific Ocean in Santa Barbara County California Comments by Hubert Schwyzer and Bruno Latour. Bruno Latour (born June 22, 1947, Beaune, France) is a French sociologist of science, anthrophologist and
• Putnam, "The Fact/Value Dichotomy and its critics"; Roundtable on Externalism audio/video lecture, audio discussion, March 2007, University College Dublin. University College Dublin (UCD (An Coláiste Ollscoile Baile Átha Cliath - formally known as University College Dublin - National University of Ireland Dublin (An
• Hilary Putnam - Externalism: Its Motivation And Its Critics, video of a lecture, delivered at Harvard University on October 4th 2007
• A short film about the Putnam-Rorty debate and its influence on the pragmatist revival
• Philosopher Olaf L. Müller's elaboration of the Brain in a Vat argument.PDF (German)