Hilary Putnam (1926-2016)Tribute List

Philosopher Hilary Putnam died on March 13, 2016 at the age of 89 from mesothelioma. One of the most important philosophers of the 20th Century, Putnam was unlike any other modern philosopher because his work embraced many different kinds of philosophy- mathematical logic, philosophy of the mind, as well as scholarship on individual philosophers, and he made important contributions in all of these fields. Putnam was also a master at providing counterarguments to complex philosophical issues, counterarguments that were so simple and clear that they demanded to be taken seriously. He also leaves a rich legacy of thought experiments like the "Twin Earth Problem" and the "Brain in a Vat." Here are 13 vocabulary words from the work of Hilary Putnam.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. metaphysical
    pertaining to the philosophical study of being and knowing
    Science is wonderful at destroying metaphysical answers, but incapable of providing substitute ones. Science takes away foundations without providing a replacement. Whether we want to be there or not, science has put us in the position of having to live without foundations.
    - The Many Faces of Realism
  2. subjective
    taking place within the mind and modified by individual bias
    No sane person should believe that something is subjective merely because it cannot be settled beyond controversy.
    - The Many Faces of Realism
    Putnam is saying that there may still be an objective truth about an issue, even if we don't know it or people have different, subjective, opinions about the topic.
  3. objectivity
    judgment based on observable phenomena
    When I claim that the...suffering of innocent people is wrong, I do not... care about the question whether this judgment would be valid for a being of ...alien...psychology. If there are beings on... Alpha Centauri, who cannot feel pain...then...likely our fuss about...'suffering’ will seem to them...much ado about nothing. But the...alienness of such a...form means...they cannot understand the moral issues... If our "objectivity"is objectivity humanly speaking, it is still objectivity enough.
  4. normative
    relating to or dealing with typical standards or patterns
    Let us recognize that one of our fundamental self-conceptualizations … is that we are thinkers, and that as thinkers we are committed to there being some kind of truth, some kind of correctness which is substantial…. That means that there is no eliminating the normative.
    - Realism and Reason
  5. reductionist
    of a theory explaining complex things by simpler elements
    [I am a] naturalistic philosopher, but not a reductionist. Physics indeed described the properties of matter in motion, but reductive naturalists forget that the world has many levels..., including the level of morally significant human action and the idea that all of these can be reduced to the level of physics I believe to be a fantasy.
    - Jewish Philosophy as a Guide to Life
  6. pragmatist
    an adherent of a theory of observable practical consequences
    And, like the classical pragmatists, I do not see reality as morally indifferent: reality, as Dewey saw, makes demands on us.
    - Jewish Philosophy as a Guide to Life
  7. dubious
    open to doubt or suspicion
    Thus if the program is too complicated to appreciate in a perfectly conscious way, the resulting system will also be too complicated to understand, and there will be nothing 'essentially dubious' about the fact that we cannot prove its soundness.
    - Review of Roger Penrose's Shadows of the Mind, Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society, 1995
  8. sound
    logically valid
    No formalization of human mathematical proof ability can both be sound and be such that it [the formalization] is part of human mathematical proof ability to prove that soundness.
    - Reflexive Reflections
    This is one of Professor Putnam's restatements of one of the the Gödel Incompleteness Theorems.
  9. delude
    be dishonest with
    I do not for one moment delude myself into thinking that my own reflections , however important they may be to me, are deep religious philosophy in the way that the writings I have been discussing are profound.
    - Jewish Philosophy as a Guide to Life
  10. profound
    showing intellectual penetration or emotional depth
    I do not for one moment delude myself into thinking that my own reflections , however important they may be to me, are deep religious philosophy in the way that the writings I have been discussing are profound.
    - Jewish Philosophy as a Guide to Life
  11. woefully
    in an unfortunate or deplorable manner
    Think how often such ideals as equality and justice have called forth deeds of great courage and dedication. If these ideals had not at times been overwhelmingly "real" to some individuals, notwithstanding...that they are woefully far from being realized, this would be a far more intolerable world than it is.
    - Jewish Philosophy as a Guide to Life
  12. rationality
    the state of having good sense and sound judgment
    The theory of rationality is not separable from our ultimate theories of the nature of the things that make up both ourselves and the domains being investigated...even in a restricted domain, for example, physics, nothing like precise laws will decide what is and is not a reasonable inference or a justified belief are to be hoped for.
    - Realism and Reason
    Putnam is saying that the way we investigate a topic, and the topic being investigated, are tied together and the way we think about things greatly influences the conclusions we reach, even in a field that seems independent, mathematical and objective, like physics.
  13. inference
    a conclusion you can draw based on known evidence
    The theory of rationality is not separable from our ultimate theories of the nature of the things that make up both ourselves and the domains being investigated...even in a restricted domain, for example, physics, nothing like precise laws will decide what is and is not a reasonable inference or a justified belief are to be hoped for.
    - Realism and Reason
Created on Fri Mar 18 00:02:04 EDT 2016 (updated Fri Mar 18 07:48:29 EDT 2016)

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