Hilary Putnam, one of America's most distinguished philosophers, surveys an astonishingly wide range of issues and proposes a new, clear-cut approach to philosophical questions--a renewal of philosophy. He contests the view that only science offers an appropriate model for philosophical inquiry. His discussion of topics from artificial intelligence to natural selection, and of reductive philosophical views derived from these models, identifies the insuperable problems encountered when philosophy ignores the normative or attempts to reduce it to something else.
Hilary Putnam, one of America's most distinguished philosophers, surveys an astonishingly wide range of issues and proposes a new, clear-cut approach ...
Hilary Putnam has been convinced for some time that the present situation in philosophy calls for revitalization and renewal; in this latest book he shows us what shape he would like that renewal to take. Words and Life offers a sweeping account of the sources of several of the central problems of philosophy, past and present, and of why some of those problems are not going to go away. As the titles of the first four parts in the volume--"The Return of Aristotle," "The Legacy of Logical Positivism," "The Inheritance of Pragmatism," and "Essays after Wittgenstein"--suggest, many of...
Hilary Putnam has been convinced for some time that the present situation in philosophy calls for revitalization and renewal; in this latest book h...
"The first two lectures place the alternative I defend -- a kind of pragmatic realism -- in a historical and metaphysical context. Part of that context is provided by Husserl's remark that the history of modern philosophy begins with Galileo -- that is, modern philosophy has been hypnotized by the idea that scientific facts are all the facts there are. Another part is provided by the analysis of a very simple example of what I call 'contextual relativity'. The position I defend holds that truth depends on conceptual scheme and it is nonetheless 'real truth'.
"In my third lecture I turn to...
"The first two lectures place the alternative I defend -- a kind of pragmatic realism -- in a historical and metaphysical context. Part of that contex...
In 1975, Putnam published a paper called The Meaning of 'Meaning', which challenged the orthodox view in the philosophies of language and mind. The article's Twin Earth conclusions about meaning, thought and knowledge were shocking. This work contains writings on the subject of Twin Earth.
In 1975, Putnam published a paper called The Meaning of 'Meaning', which challenged the orthodox view in the philosophies of language and mind. The ar...
In 1975, Putnam published a paper called The Meaning of 'Meaning', which challenged the orthodox view in the philosophies of language and mind. The article's Twin Earth conclusions about meaning, thought and knowledge were shocking. This work contains writings on the subject of Twin Earth.
In 1975, Putnam published a paper called The Meaning of 'Meaning', which challenged the orthodox view in the philosophies of language and mind. The ar...
This book brings together key players in the current debate on positive and normative science and philosophy and value judgements in economics. Both editors have engaged in these debates throughout their careers from its early foundations; Putnam as a doctorial student of Hans Reichenbach at UCLA and Walsh a junior member of Lord Robbins's department at the London School of Economics, both in the early 1950s. This book collects recent contributions from Martha Nussbaum, Amartya Sen and Partha Dasgupta, as well as a new chapter from the editors.
This book brings together key players in the current debate on positive and normative science and philosophy and value judgements in economics. Both e...
First published in 1990, this is a reissue of Professor Hilary Putnam 's dissertation thesis, written in 1951, which concerns itself with The Meaning of the Concept of Probability in Application to Finite Sequences and the problems of the deductive justification for induction. Written under the direction of Putnam 's mentor, Hans Reichenbach, the book considers Reichenbach 's idealization of very long finite sequences as infinite sequences and the bearing this has upon Reichenbach 's pragmatic vindication of induction.
First published in 1990, this is a reissue of Professor Hilary Putnam 's dissertation thesis, written in 1951, which concerns itself with The Meani...
This volume brings together leading scholars to examine Darwinian perspectives on morality from widely ranging disciplines: evolutionary biology, anthropology, psychology, philosophy, and theology. They bring not only varied expertise, but also contrasting judgments about which, and to what extent, differing evolutionary accounts explain morality. They also consider the implications of these explanations for a range of religious and non-religious moral traditions.
The book first surveys scientific understandings of morality. Chapters by Joan Silk and Christopher Boehm ask what...
This volume brings together leading scholars to examine Darwinian perspectives on morality from widely ranging disciplines: evolutionary biology, a...
Throughout his diverse and highly influential career, Hilary Putnam was famous for changing his mind. As a pragmatist he treated philosophical "positions" as experiments in deliberate living. His aim was not to fix on one position but to attempt to do justice to the depth and complexity of reality. In this new collection, he and Ruth Anna Putnam argue that key elements of the classical pragmatism of William James and John Dewey provide a framework for the most progressive and forward-looking forms of philosophy in contemporary thought. The Putnams present a compelling defense of the...
Throughout his diverse and highly influential career, Hilary Putnam was famous for changing his mind. As a pragmatist he treated philosophical "pos...
