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Intro
Hilary Putnam is an American philosopher who has made many major contributions to different fields of study. He is best known for his semantic externalism. Putnam Studied at the University of Pennsylvania and attended Harvard for philosophy. Putnam received his Ph.D. at UCLA in 1951 -
"The meaning of 'meanings' "
Putnam's classic paper where he theorizes about humans are and how we think. Theories about we do not have souls and we are not in a matrix. That human bodies and minds are connected to each other and that we are made for thinking. -
Twin Earth
The most interesting theory I found was the theory of a Twin Earth. Stating that you can have two different views of the same subject and have two different opinions of the same object. In this Twin Earth, the year is 1750 and they have yet to discover the molecular make-up of water. Everything else is the same, human have the same beliefs and mental make-up. -
Philosophy of Mind
Putnam said the same function can be performed by different physical systems. He used an analogy of how the mind works know as the multiple realizability thesis. Comparing humans to computers, saying we are not all material, the hardware being our brain and software the mind. He rejected any innatist theories on language and grammar. Saying that each of our bodies communicates with the mind via its very own language. -
Science
Interview with Putnam
https://youtu.be/E4HQZrOeZ7E
Sources:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hilary-Putnam