About
Hilary Putnam (1926-2016) was a major figure in analytic philosophy. He taught at Northwestern, Princeton, and MIT before joining Harvard in 1965. A co-founder of functionalism in the philosophy of mind, he developed semantic externalism and the causal theory of reference, illustrated by the Twin Earth thought experiment. In mathematical logic, he co-developed the Davis-Putnam algorithm and contributed to the solution of Hilbert's tenth problem. His work spans the philosophy of mind, language, mathematics, and science, evolving from scientific realism to a pragmatic realism. Winner of the Rolf Schock Prize in 2011, he published numerous books, including 'Realism with a Human Face'.
* 1926-07-28 — † 2016-03-13
Major works
- Minds and Machines (1960)article
- Representation and Reality (1988)book
- Realism with a Human Face (1990)book
- Renewing Philosophy (1992)book
- The Threefold Cord (1999)book
Key milestones
- 1951Received his PhD from UCLA under Hans Reichenbach.
- 1965Joined Harvard University, where he became professor emeritus.
- 2011Awarded the Rolf Schock Prize in Logic and Philosophy.
Themes
Philosophy of mindPhilosophy of languageRealismMathematical logicPragmatism
Sources: rep.routledge.com · news.harvard.edu · kva.se