• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Philosophy Professor logo

PhilosophyProfessor.com

  • Philosophers
  • Philosophies

Hilary Putnam

Hilary PutnamHilary Putnam (1926- ).

Putnam taught at Northwestern University, Princeton University, and MIT, until he became Walter Beverly Pearson Professor of Modern Mathematics and Mathematical Logic at Harvard University in 1976.

Drawing on his expertise in the theory of recursive functions and Turing machines, Putnam formulated a philosophical position that he named ‘functionalism’ in the 1950s.

Functionalism became very influential in the philosophy of mind. According to this theory, the mind is, basically, a computing machine, and thus it is organization, and not material composition, that is relevant to the study of cognition.

Putnam’s argument for this relies on the intuition that the same mental state can be realized in different material substrates. He has since rejected functionalism by broadening this claim that the mental is multiply realizable.

Putnam now believes that different computational, or Turing machine states can realize the same mental state, and thus that the mind cannot be identified with any particular computing machine.

Putnam’s espousal of a strong form of multiple realizability of the mental has led him to question the importance of studying the brain, the ‘implementation of the mind’, to understanding the mind.

He is also a critic of connectionist models of mental functioning. The following publications are good entry points into Putnam’s formidable corpus: Philosophical Papers (3 vols., 1975-83), and Representation and Reality (1988).

Table of Contents

  • 1 Major Works of Hilary Putnam
    • 1.1 Related:
  • 2 Videos
  • 3 Related Products
    • 3.1 The Collapse of the Fact/Value Dichotomy and Other Essays
    • 3.2 Pragmatism as a Way of Life: The Lasting Legacy of William James and John Dewey
    • 3.3 Reason, Truth and History
    • 3.4 Jewish Philosophy as a Guide to Life: Rosenzweig, Buber, Levinas, Wittgenstein (The Helen and Martin Schwartz Lectures in Jewish Studies)
    • 3.5 Representation and Reality (Representation and Mind)
    • 3.6 The Philosophy of Hilary Putnam (Library of Living Philosophers)
    • 3.7 Mathematics, Matter and Method (Philosophical Papers, Vol. 1)
    • 3.8 Realism with a Human Face
    • 3.9 Renewing Philosophy
    • 3.10 Hilary Putnam on Logic and Mathematics (Outstanding Contributions to Logic)

Major Works of Hilary Putnam

– Ethics Without Ontology (2004)
– The Many Faces of Realism (1990)
– Philosophical Papers, 3 volumes (1979-1985)
– Pragmatism (1995)
– Realism with a Human Face (1992)
– Reason, Truth and History (1981)
– Renewing Philosophy (1995)
– Representation and Reality (1991)
– The Threefold Cord (2001)
– Words and Life, with James Conant (1995)

Related:

  • causal theory of names
  • functionalism
  • idealism
  • essentialism
  • realism

  • Videos

  • Related Products

     
    The Collapse of the Fact/Value Dichotomy and Other Essays

    The Collapse of the Fact/Value Dichotomy and Other Essays

    • Putnam, Hilary (Author)
    • English (Publication Language)
    • 208 Pages - 03/30/2004 (Publication Date) - Harvard University Press (Publisher)
    Check Price on Amazon
     
    Pragmatism as a Way of Life: The Lasting Legacy of William James and John Dewey

    Pragmatism as a Way of Life: The Lasting Legacy of William James and John Dewey

    • Belknap Press An Imprint of Harvard University Press
    • Hardcover Book
    • Putnam, Hilary (Author)
    • English (Publication Language)
    • 496 Pages - 05/15/2017 (Publication Date) - Belknap Press: An Imprint of Harvard University Press (Publisher)
    Check Price on Amazon
     
    Reason, Truth and History

    Reason, Truth and History

    • Amazon Kindle Edition
    • Putnam, Hilary (Author)
    • English (Publication Language)
    • 224 Pages - 12/31/1981 (Publication Date) - Cambridge University Press (Publisher)
    Check Price on Amazon
     
    Jewish Philosophy as a Guide to Life: Rosenzweig, Buber, Levinas, Wittgenstein (The Helen and Martin Schwartz Lectures in Jewish Studies)

    Jewish Philosophy as a Guide to Life: Rosenzweig, Buber, Levinas, Wittgenstein (The Helen and Martin Schwartz Lectures in Jewish Studies)

    • Indiana University Press
    • Hardcover Book
    • Putnam, Hilary (Author)
    • English (Publication Language)
    • 121 Pages - 02/19/2008 (Publication Date) - Indiana University Press (Publisher)
    Check Price on Amazon
     
    Representation and Reality (Representation and Mind)

    Representation and Reality (Representation and Mind)

    • Putnam, Hilary (Author)
    • English (Publication Language)
    • 154 Pages - 08/28/1991 (Publication Date) - A Bradford Book (Publisher)
    Check Price on Amazon
     
    The Philosophy of Hilary Putnam (Library of Living Philosophers)

    The Philosophy of Hilary Putnam (Library of Living Philosophers)

    • Hardcover Book
    • English (Publication Language)
    • 960 Pages - 06/30/2015 (Publication Date) - Open Court (Publisher)
    Check Price on Amazon
     
    Mathematics, Matter and Method (Philosophical Papers, Vol. 1)

    Mathematics, Matter and Method (Philosophical Papers, Vol. 1)

    • Used Book in Good Condition
    • Putnam (Author)
    • English (Publication Language)
    • 380 Pages - 04/30/1979 (Publication Date) - Cambridge University Press (Publisher)
    Check Price on Amazon
     
    Realism with a Human Face

    Realism with a Human Face

    • Used Book in Good Condition
    • Putnam, Hilary (Author)
    • English (Publication Language)
    • 422 Pages - 03/01/1992 (Publication Date) - Harvard University Press (Publisher)
    Check Price on Amazon
     
    Renewing Philosophy

    Renewing Philosophy

    • Amazon Kindle Edition
    • Putnam, Hilary (Author)
    • English (Publication Language)
    • 248 Pages - 08/11/1995 (Publication Date) - Harvard University Press (Publisher)
    Check Price on Amazon
     
    Hilary Putnam on Logic and Mathematics (Outstanding Contributions to Logic)

    Hilary Putnam on Logic and Mathematics (Outstanding Contributions to Logic)

    • Hardcover Book
    • English (Publication Language)
    • 274 Pages - 12/06/2018 (Publication Date) - Springer (Publisher)
    Check Price on Amazon
  • Last update 2020-06-17. Price and product availability may change.

    John Henry Newman

    Henry More

    Peter Abelard

    Martin Heidegger

    Saint Bonaventure

    • Contact
    • Facebook

    Copyright © 2023 · CERTAIN CONTENT THAT APPEARS ON THIS SITE COMES FROM AMAZON SERVICES LLC. THIS CONTENT IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE OR REMOVAL AT ANY TIME. “AS AN AMAZON ASSOCIATE I EARN FROM QUALIFYING PURCHASES.”