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Hilary Putnam
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Contributions to Philosophy of mind
"He's known for his argument against the type-identity( mental events can be grouped into types, and can then be correlated with types of physical events in the brain) of mental and physical states based on his hypothesis of the multiple realizability of the mental, and for the concept of functionalism, an influential theory regarding the mind–body problem." -
Contributions to Philosophy of mathematics
"Putnam and his mentor W. V. O. Quine developed the 'Quine–Putnam indispensability thesis', an argument for the reality of mathematical entities, later espousing the view that mathematics is not purely logical, but 'quasi-empirical'. -
Brain in a vat
"The argument is that one cannot coherently state that one is a disembodied 'brain in a vat' placed there by some 'mad scientist'. His real target in this argument was metaphysical realism which he believed it was false. He argued that such a scenario is impossible, Man cannot have a 'God's eye' view of reality. He is limited to his conceptual schemes." -
Contributions to Philosophy of language
He and Saul Kripke "developed the causal theory of reference, and formulated an original theory of meaning, introducing the notion of semantic externalism based on a famous thought experiment called Twin Earth." -
Brain in a vat explained