Hilary Putnam
American philosopher and mathematician · United States · On the map · Academics · Lived 1926 to 2016 · aged 89
Hilary Whitehall Putnam was an American philosopher, mathematician, computer scientist, and figure in analytic philosophy in the second half of the 20th century. He contributed to the studies of philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, philosophy of mathematics, and philosophy of science.
Hilary Putnam is read about 287 times a day, in 47 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 6 November 2026
The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 104 days, one point a day.
Something wrong?A life in dates
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Photos 3
An illustration of multiple realizability. M stands for mental and P stands for physical. It can be seen that more than one P can instantiate one M, but not vice versa. Causal relations between states are represented by the arrows (M1 goes to M2, etc.).
A "brain in a vat" - Putnam uses this thought experiment to argue that skeptical scenarios are impossible.Awards
About this person
Outside philosophy, Putnam contributed to mathematics and computer science. Together with Martin Davis he developed the Davis-Putnam algorithm for the Boolean satisfiability problem and he helped demonstrate the unsolvability of Hilbert's tenth problem.
Where to find them
The same award as Hilary
John RawlsBoth received Rolf Schock Prize in Logic and Philosophy
Willard Van Orman QuineBoth received Carus Lectures
Derek ParfitBoth received Rolf Schock Prize in Logic and Philosophy
Alvin PlantingaBoth received Nicholas Rescher Prize for Systematic PhilosophyPaul GriceBoth received Carus Lectures
Michael DummettBoth received Lauener Prize