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Born in Chicago, Illinois
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Received Ph.D in philosophy from University of California, Los Angeles for his dissertation on "The Meaning of the Concept of Probability in Application to Finite Sequences"
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Putnam abandons previous philosophy and fights that Scientism isn't the end all be all. Pushes that Science only portrays reality but that "reality" is for the individual and should be incorporated into each individuals life how it fits. Just because you see the world one way does not mean that way is how everyone sees it. Philosophy in an Age of Science. edited by Mario De Caro and David Macarthur. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2012.
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Proposes his brain in a vat theory. How do you know that you are not a disembodied brain in a vat stimulated and observed by a scientist? This is a thought experiment that is a modern interpretation of Descartes' Evil Demon hypothesis. Goes to show that reality is only relevant to the observer.
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Putnam gives up his idea of Metaphysical realism for one in which the observe takes into account references and truth. by doing so he puts the focus onto taking in the surroundings of an observation allowing it to better fit into who we are and what the results mean to humanity as a whole. Putnam, H. The Many Faces of Realism. La Salle, Ill.: Open Court, 1987
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Putnam dies at age of 89.