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Hilary Putnam
Hilary Putnam was a pivotal mathematician, philosopher, and computer scientist that made ground-breaking contributions to many fields. He is well known for his theories on multiple realizability and being as skeptical of his own theories as he was with others. -
Putnam achieves his Ph.D.
Hilary Putnam began his education at University of Pennsylvania where he studied mathematics and philosophy. He then continued on to Harvard University for his graduates and completed his Ph.D. at University of California in Los Angeles underneath Hans Reichenbach. -
Functionalism
Hilary Putnam developed his theory of Functionalism, a theory of mind that theorizes that function has a direct relation to the mental state. Computer uses increased the understanding of this. The function of a computer is controlled by the software, or mind with humans, and not by the hardware, or body.
The following video illuminates his meanings behind Functionalism:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0YIm8p30aU -
Twin Earth thought experiment
In two papers, "Meaning of Reference" and "the Meaning of 'Meaning'" employs an example of a twin Earth, where everything is exactly the same as it is on our Earth with the exception of twin "water" being another chemical compound that acts identically to H2O. Through this he theorizes that words are not only phycological. -
Brain in a Vat
Putnam presented his thought experiment of "Brain in a Vat", which ended up being heavily criticized. Later he abandoned it as his views often changed since he was considered as hard of a critic on his own theories as he was on others.
