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The Early Life of Hilary Putnam
Hilary Putnam was an American Analytical Philosopher, Mathematician, and Computer Scientist. He was born in Chicago, Illinois July 31st, 1926. His father Samuel Putnam was a publisher who wrote for the Daily Worker, a publication of the American Communist Party from 1936 to 1946. Hilary’s mother; Riva, was surprisingly Jewish. This is surprising because they lived in France until 1934. Hilary and his family settled in Philadelphia when they returned to the United States. Hilary met his... -
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Hilary and Philosophy of Mind
Hilary had a humongous impact specifically in the Philosophy of Mind Field. He introduced Functionalism, also known as Machine Functionalism. Functionalism “attempts to define mental states in terms of their functional (or causal) roles relative to other mental states and behaviors.” He has a thesis called the “multiple realizability” thesis. The multiple realizability thesis states that one function can be performed in different physical systems. He used to talk about the similarities... -
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Hilary's Political Involvement
Hilary taught at Northwestern (1951–52), Princeton (1953–61), and MIT (1961–65), he ended up moving to Harvard in 1965. Hilary ended up becoming one of the most popular teachers at Harvard. Hilary was a huge political activist, eventually organizing campus protests, and also began teaching courses on Marxism. In 1968 he became a member of the Progressive Labor Party. The Progressive Labor Party is a far left party described as... -
The End of Hilary's Life
Hilary died of mesothelioma on March 13th, 2016 in his home in Arlington, Massachusetts. He had a lifelong commitment to objective truth. Hilary was an active philosopher up until the day he died. H