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Philosophy of Science contribution
Putnam believed in the idea of scientific realism, the belief that theoretical claims of science are to be taken as describing reality – that science aims to produce true descriptions of things in the universe. His main position came to light during his "no-miracle" argument. In his words he stated that "Realism is the only philosophy that does not make the success of science a miracle”. This will end of explaining the theory of empirical prediction. -
Realism Defence
Putnam believed that strongly and defended the view that both truth and knowledge are both objective. Putnam upheld the ideas of knowledge, belief, convention, dogma, and superstition along with the distinguishing factors between all of them. Over the years Putnam proposed many different ideas about realism, and was always very critical on his own ideas to find any possible flaws. -
Early Defense of realism
During the early stages of Putnam's defense of realism was mainly focused against logical positivities, which at the time held a theory of meaning. When he came out with his statement of synthetic statements (statements that are not true or false), are only meaningful if they are empirically verifiable. -
Later Defense of Realism
In Putnams later defense of realism was based on the theoretical instead of observational function as predictive instruments. "Putnam’s realism also led him to pursue a realist interpretation of quantum mechanics, a theory generally considered to pose insurmountable difficulties for the realist."(Menaham,Sec. 3) For a deeper understanding of Putnam's view on realism. Here is a video that he did on the Philosophy of Science. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=et8kDNF_nEc -
Works Cited
Ben-Menahem, Yemima. “Varieties of Realism.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 27 July 2019, www.britannica.com/biography/Hilary-Putnam/Varieties-of-realism. Philosophy Overdose. "Philosophy of Science with Hilary Putnam" November 9,2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=et8kDNF_nEc