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Hilary Putnam (07/31/1926) - (03/13/2016)
Hilary Putnam studied at three different universities. He studied mathematics and philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania, attended graduate school in philosophy at Harvard University; and, after writing his dissertation on the concept of probability at the University of California, he earned his Ph.D. Ben-Menahem, Yemima. "Hilary Putnam". Encyclopedia Britannica, 27 Jul. 2022, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hilary-Putnam. Accessed 4 August 2022. -
Hilary Putnam (07/31/1926) - (03/13/2016)
At Princeton, Putnam worked on one of the 23 unsolvable problems in mathematics. He found a general algorithm for solving Diophantine equations (polynomial equations that involve only integer constants and only integer solutions). Along with Martin Davis and Julia Robinson, Putnam provided the basis for proof that the problem is unsolvable. Ben-Menahem, Yemima. "Hilary Putnam". Encyclopedia Britannica, 27 Jul. 2022, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hilary-Putnam. Accessed 4 August 2022. -
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Hilary Putnam (07/31/1926) - (03/13/2016)
Putnam’s philosophy was mainly focused on his defense of realism. The main indication of his defense was his theory of meaning in all his versions of realism. Theories of truth and meaning were inherently interconnected. This connection is manifest in Putnam’s conception of meaning, first proposed in his classic paper “The Meaning of ‘Meaning’”.
Ben-Menahem, Yemima. "Hilary Putnam". Encyclopedia Britannica, 27 Jul. 2022, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hilary-Putnam. Accessed 4 August 2022. -
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Hilary Putnam (07/31/1926) - (03/13/2016)
Putnam is best known for his semantic externalism (linguistic meanings are not purely mental entities but reach out to external reality). Over the years, he became critical of scientism and wrote many works coveying his lifelong commitment to objective truth. Ben-Menahem, Yemima. "Hilary Putnam". Encyclopedia Britannica, 27 Jul. 2022, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hilary-Putnam. Accessed 4 August 2022.