Hilary Putnam Livres

The book offers an insightful exploration of Hilary Putnam's philosophical evolution, highlighting his intellectual humility and diverse interests. Through engaging dialogues with notable contemporaries like Sellars, Habermas, and Chomsky, it showcases how his ideas transformed over time, reflecting a rich tapestry of philosophical thought. This volume serves as a testament to Putnam's dynamic engagement with key figures in philosophy, illustrating the depth and complexity of his contributions to the field.

In this brief book one of the most distinguished living American philosophers takes up the question of whether ethical judgments can properly be considered objective―a question that has vexed philosophers over the past century. Looking at the efforts of philosophers from the Enlightenment through the twentieth century, Hilary Putnam traces the ways in which ethical problems arise in a historical context.Putnam’s central concern is ontology―indeed, the very idea of ontology as the division of philosophy concerned with what (ultimately) exists. Reviewing what he deems the disastrous consequences of ontology’s influence on analytic philosophy―in particular, the contortions it imposes upon debates about the objective of ethical judgments―Putnam proposes abandoning the very idea of ontology. He argues persuasively that the attempt to provide an ontological explanation of the objectivity of either mathematics or ethics is, in fact, an attempt to provide justifications that are extraneous to mathematics and ethics―and is thus deeply misguided.

Hilary Putnam deals in this book with some of the most fundamental persistent problems in philosophy: the nature of truth, knowledge and rationality. His aim is to break down the fixed categories of thought which have always appeared to define and constrain the permissible solutions to these problems.

Distinguished philosopher Hilary Putnam, who is also a practicing Jew, questions the thought of three major Jewish philosophers of the 20th century―Franz Rosenzweig, Martin Buber, and Emmanuel Levinas―to help him reconcile the philosophical and religious sides of his life. An additional presence in the book is Ludwig Wittgenstein, who, although not a practicing Jew, thought about religion in ways that Putnam juxtaposes to the views of Rosenzweig, Buber, and Levinas. Putnam explains the leading ideas of each of these great thinkers, bringing out what, in his opinion, constitutes the decisive intellectual and spiritual contributions of each of them. Although the religion discussed is Judaism, the depth and originality of these philosophers, as incisively interpreted by Putnam, make their thought nothing less than a guide to life.

Hilary Putnam has approached the divisions between perception and reality and between mind and body with great creativity throughout his career. Now, in The Threefold Cord: Mind, Body, and World, he expounds upon these issues, elucidating both the strengths and weaknesses of current schools of thought. With his characteristic wit and acuity, Putnam offers refreshing solutions to some of philosophy's most vexing problems.

Focusing on alternatives to metaphysical realism and cultural relativism, this introduction to realism offers a historical perspective on philosophical thought. The author evaluates Kantian influences and provides a robust defense of moral objectivity, making a compelling case for understanding realism in a nuanced manner.

In this influential monograph, Putnam explores the concept of a 'predicate' and its role in mathematical logic. A must-read for anyone interested in philosophy of mathematics.

This book presents an exploration of set theory and the mathematical representation of families of sets. It includes discussions of related problems and concepts, such as basic set theory, relations, functions, and logic, as well as their applications to computer science, linguistics, and other fields.

The book explores Darwinian perspectives on morality through the insights of leading scholars from various disciplines, including evolutionary biology, anthropology, psychology, philosophy, and theology. It delves into how these fields interpret moral behavior and ethical frameworks in the context of evolutionary theory, offering a multidisciplinary approach to understanding the origins and implications of morality in human society.