The Philosophy of Hilary Putnam

975 Pages·2015·12.526 MB·English

by  Randall E. Auxier, Douglas R. Anderson, Lewis Edwin Hahn

Philosophy of Putnam Jacket_Layout 1 3/31/15 10:43 AM Page 1
The Philosophyof The Library of The Philosophyof
PHILOSOPHY
ARTHUR C. DANTO HILARY PUTNAM
Living Philosophers
TThhee PPhhiilloossoopphhyy ooff
“The series as a whole is the greatest philosophical ‘journal’ that has ever been published.” Volume XXXIV
Arthur C. Danto is the Johnsonian Professor Emeritus of —Edgar SHEffIELd BrIgHtman Hilary Putnam is one of the world’s greatest living philosophers. He
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Philosophy at Columbia University and the most influential Auxier, Anderson & Hahn is Cogan University Professor Emeritus of Harvard. He has been
philosopher of art in the last half-century. As an art critic for The first volume in the Library of Living Philosophers appeared in 1939, the brainchild of the late called “one of the 20th century’s true philosophic giants” (by Malcolm
Thorndike Nicholson in Prospect magazine in 2013). He has been
the Nationand frequent contributor to other widely read Professor Paul A. Schilpp, who perceived that it would help to eliminate confusions and endless sterile
extremely influential in several different areas of philosophy, including
outlets such as the New York Review of Books, Danto also has disputes over interpretation if great philosophers could be confronted on a range of questions by
become one of the most respected public intellectuals of his their capable philosophical peers and asked to reply to each of them. As well as the criticisms and HT philosophy of mathematics, philosophy of language, philosophy of
h mind, and philosophy of science. In this volume Putnam offers an
generation. He is the author of some two dozen important replies, each volume would include a photograph, a handwriting sample, an intellectual autobiography, enlightening intellectual autobiography along with his replies to the
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volume Danto offers his intellectual autobiography and standing philosophers of each generation to do more than clarify, by extending and elaborating their Philosophy and Mathematics, Logic and Language, Knowing and
i
responds to essays by 27 of the keenest critics of his thought l Being, Philosophy of Practice, and Elements of Pragmatism.
thoughts. A volume in the Library of Living Philosophers is not merely a commentary on a philoso- Ao
from the worlds of philosophy and the arts.
pher’s work: it is a crucial part of that work. s HILARY PUTNAM: Intellectual Autobiography
o
CHARLES PARSONS: Putnam on Realism and “Empiricism” in
AEWRTAH DU. RB OCG. DUASZN-TBOO:L ITnUteClle: cRtueaald Ainugt oDbiaongtroap’sh Wyoodcuts. randall E. auxier(right) Editor of the Library of Living Philosophers, Rph Mathematics. Putnam’s Reply
HARTRY FIELD: Mathematical Undecidables, Metaphysical Realism,
Danto’s Reply is Professor of Philosophy at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. y and Equivalent Descriptions. Putnam’s Reply
DAVID REED: Questions for Arthur. Danto’s Reply He is author of Time, Will, and Purpose(2013) and numerous scholarly Yo FELIx MüLHÖLZER: Putnam, Wittgenstein, and the Objectivity of
SEAN SCULLY: From an Artist’s Point of View. Danto’s Reply articles, reviews, and popular essays. He is editor of the scholarly f Mathematics. Putnam’s Reply
THOMAS ROSE: The Artist’s Philosopher and the Open Work. journal The Pluralistand editor of numerous other books, including STEVEN J. WAGNER: Modal and Objectual. Putnam’s Reply
GEOFFREY HELLMAN: Infinite Possibilities and Possibilities of
Danto’s Reply Responsesto Royce (2000), Hartshorne and Brightman on God, Process, P
Infinity. Putnam’s Reply
GERARD VILAR: On Some Dissonances in A. C. Danto’s Art
and Persons(with Mark Y.A. Davies, 2001), and in the Library of Living CHARLES TRAVIS: Engaging. Putnam’s Reply
Criticism. Danto’s Reply Philosophers,volumes on Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Marjorie Grene, Jaakko U ALAN BERGER: What Does It Mean to Say “Water is Necessarily H2O”?
GÖRAN HERMERÉN: Art, Media, and Money. Danto’s Reply Putnam’s Reply
Hintikka,and Michael Dummett (all with Lewis Edwin Hahn).
SUE SPAID: Being-Here. Danto’s Reply IAN HACKING: Natural Kinds, Hidden Structures, and Pragmatic
DAVID CARRIER: Indiscernibles and the Essence of Art. T Instincts. Putnam’s Reply
Danto’s Reply douglas r. andersonserved as Editor of the Library of Living ROBERT K. SHOPE: The State of Affairs Regarding True Assertions.
BERNHARD LYPP: The Mind and the Boxes. Danto’s Reply Philosophers in 2014. He is Professor of Philosophy at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale and N Putnam’s Reply
GARY EBBS: Putnam and the Contextually A Priori. Putnam’s Reply
DENIS DUTTON: Danto, Landscape, and Art. Danto’s Reply author of Philosophy and Americana: Making Philosophy at Home in American Culture(2006) and Strands
MICHAEL DUMMETT: What Do Permutation Arguments Prove?
BERTRAND ROUGÉ: Just Figuring. Danto’s Reply of System: The Philosophy of Charles Peirce(1995). He is former editor of the Journal of Speculative Philos-
Putnam’s Reply
GEORGE DICKIE: Art and Ontology. Danto’s Reply ophyand the Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society. A YEMIMA BEN-MENAHEM: Revisiting the Refutation of Conventionalism.
DOMINIQUE CHATEAU: Arthur Danto: Philosophy on Art, Putnam’s Reply
Philosophy in Art. Danto’s Reply TIM MAUDLIN: Confessions of a Hardcore, Unsophisticated
The late Lewis Edwin Hahn(left) was Editor of the Library of Living Philosophers from 1981 to
LYDIA GOEHR: The Pastness of the Work. Danto’s Reply M Metaphysical Realist. Putnam’s Reply
2001. He authored A Contextualistic Theory of Perception(1942), Value: A Co-operative Inquiry(with John
FREDERICK STOUTLAND:Putnam and Wittgenstein. Putnam’s Reply
F. R. ANKERSMIT: Danto’s Philosophy of History.
Dewey and others, 1949), and A Contextualistic World View(2001). He co-edited The Early Works of CARL POSY: Realism, Reference, and Reason: Remarks on Putnam
Danto’s Reply
John Dewey, 1882–1898 (1967–1972). and Kant. Putnam’s Reply
NOËL CARROLL: Danto, the End of Art, and the Orientational
CORA DIAMOND: Putnam and Wittgensteinian Baby-Throwing:
Narrative. Danto’s Reply Variations on a Theme. Putnam’s Reply
FRED RUSH: Danto, Hegel, and the Work of Art. Danto’s Reply Volumes in the Library of Living Philosophers have appeared on the following thinkers: JOHN MCDOWELL: Putnam on Natural Realism. Putnam’s Reply
TIZIANA ANDINA: Taking Danto’s Suggestion Seriously. JOHNDEWEY(1933, 1971, 1989), GEORGESANTAYANA(1940, 1951), ALFREDNORTHWHITEHEAD(1941, 1951), PIERRE HADOT: Words in Life: “Philosophy as Education for
Danto’s Reply G.E. MOORE(1942, 1971), BERTRANDRUSSELL(1944, 1971), ERNSTCASSIRER(1949), ALBERTEINSTEIN(1949, 1970), Putnam’s Intellectual Autobiography Grownups.” Putnam’s Reply
JOHN HALDANE: Philosophy, Causality, and God. Putnam’s Reply
DAVID DETMER: Danto on Sartre. Danto’s Reply SARVEPALLIRADHAKRISHNAN(1952), KARLJASPERS(1957, 1981), C.D. BROAD(1959), RUDOLFCARNAP(1963),
RUTH ANNA PUTNAM: Hilary Putnam’s Jewish Philosophy.
JULIE KUHLKEN: Posthistorical Philosophy. Danto’s Reply MARTINBUBER(1967), C.I. LEWIS(1968), KARLPOPPER(1974), BRANDBLANSHARD(1980), JEAN-PAULSARTRE 26 Critical Essays Putnam’s Reply
FREDERICK ADAMS: Action: Back to Basics. Danto’s Reply
(1981), GABRIELMARCEL(1984), W.V. QUINE(1986, 1998), GEORGHENRIKVONWRIGHT(1989), CHARLES Putnam’s Replies to His Critics SIMON BLACKBURN: Putnam on Wittgenstein and Religious Language.
SUSAN L. FEAGIN: Language and Art. Danto’s Reply HARTSHORNE(1991), A.J. AYER(1992), PAULRICOEUR(1995), PAULWEISS(1995), HANS-GEORGGADAMER Putnam’s Reply
YNHUI PARK: Art as a Proposition in the Kantian (1997), RODERICKM. CHISHOLM(1997), P.F. STRAWSON(1998), DONALDDAVIDSON(1999), SEYYEDHOSSEIN Putnam Bibliography CORNEL WEST: Hilary Putnam and the Third Enlightenment.
“Problematic Modality.” Danto’s Reply Putnam’s Reply
JAMES R. HORNE: A Reluctant Moral Philosopher. NASR(2001), MARJORIEGRENE(2002), JAAKKOHINTIKKA(2006), MICHAELDUMMETT(2007), RICHARDRORTY LARRY A. HICKMAN: Putnam’s Progress: The Deweyan Deposit in
Danto’s Reply (2010),ARTHURC. DANTO(2013), HILARYPUTNAM(2015). His Thinking. Putnam’s Reply
The Library of Living Philosophers Volume XXXIV HARVEY CORMIER: What Is the Use of Calling Putnam a Pragmatist?
ROBERT C. SOLOMON AND KATHLEEN M. HIGGINS:
Putnam’s Reply
Danto: On the Use and Disadvantage of Hegel for Art. Volumes in preparation: Edited by Randall E. Auxier, Douglas R. Anderson, MARCIN KILANOWSKI: Toward a Responsible and Rational Ethical
Danto’s Reply UMBERTO ECO Discussion: A Critique of Putnam’s Pragmatic Approach.
DAVID SEIPLE: The Spirit of Arthur Danto. Danto’s Reply JULIA KRISTEVA Open Court and Lewis Edwin Hahn Putnam’s Reply
CRISPIN SARTWELL: Danto as Writer. Danto’s Reply RICHARD RORTY: Putnam, Pragmatism, and Parmenides.
MARTHA NUSSBAUM
Putnam’s Reply
Bibliography of Danto’s Writings
Bibliography of Hilary Putnam’s Writings
THE LIBRARY OF LIVING PHILOSOPHERS
THE PHILOSOPHY OF
HILARY PUTNAM
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THE LIBRARY OF LIVING PHILOSOPHERS
PAUL ARTHUR SCHILPP, FOUNDER AND EDITOR 1939–1981
LEWIS EDWIN HAHN, EDITOR 1981–2001
RANDALL E. AUXIER, EDITOR 2001–2013
DOUGLAS R. ANDERSON, EDITOR 2014
Paul Arthur Schilpp, Editor
THE PHILOSOPHY OF JOHN DEWEY (1939, 1971, 1989)
THE PHILOSOPHY OF GEORGE SANTAYANA (1940, 1951)
THE PHILOSOPHY OF ALFRED NORTH WHITEHEAD (1941, 1951)
THE PHILOSOPHY OF G. E. MOORE (1942, 1971)
THE PHILOSOPHY OF BERTRAND RUSSELL (1944, 1971)
THE PHILOSOPHY OF ERNST CASSIRER (1949)
ALBERT EINSTEIN: PHILOSOPHER-SCIENTIST (1949, 1970)
THE PHILOSOPHY OF SARVEPALLI RADHAKRISHNAN (1952)
THE PHILOSOPHY OF KARL JASPERS (1957; AUG. ED., 1981)
THE PHILOSOPHY OF C. D. BROAD (1959)
THE PHILOSOPHY OF RUDOLF CARNAP (1963)
THE PHILOSOPHY OF C. I. LEWIS (1968)
THE PHILOSOPHY OF KARL POPPER (1974)
THE PHILOSOPHY OF BRAND BLANSHARD (1980)
THE PHILOSOPHY OF JEAN-PAUL SARTRE (1981)
Paul Arthur Schilpp and Maurice Friedman, Editors
THE PHILOSOPHY OF MARTIN BUBER (1967)
Paul Arthur Schilpp and Lewis Edwin Hahn, Editors
THE PHILOSOPHY OF GABRIEL MARCEL (1984)
THE PHILOSOPHY OF W. V. QUINE (1986, AUG. ED., 1998)
THE PHILOSOPHY OF GEORG HENRIK VON WRIGHT (1989)
Lewis Edwin Hahn, Editor
THE PHILOSOPHY OF CHARLES HARTSHORNE (1991)
THE PHILOSOPHY OF A. J. AYER (1992)
THE PHILOSOPHY OF PAUL RICOEUR (1995)
THE PHILOSOPHY OF PAUL WEISS (1995)
THE PHILOSOPHY OF HANS-GEORG GADAMER (1997)
THE PHILOSOPHY OF RODERICK M. CHISHOLM (1997)
THE PHILOSOPHY OF P. F. STRAWSON (1998)
THE PHILOSOPHY OF DONALD DAVIDSON (1999)
Lewis Edwin Hahn, Randall E. Auxier, and Lucian W. Stone, Jr., Editors
THE PHILOSOPHY OF SEYYED HOSSEIN NASR (2001)
Randall E. Auxier and Lewis Edwin Hahn, Editors
THE PHILOSOPHY OF MARJORIE GRENE (2002)
THE PHILOSOPHY OF JAAKKO HINTIKKA (2006)
THE PHILOSOPHY OF MICHAEL DUMMETT (2007)
THE PHILOSOPHY OF RICHARD RORTY (2010)
THE PHILOSOPHY OF ARTHUR C. DANTO (2013)
Randall E. Auxier, Douglas R. Anderson, and Lewis Edwin Hahn, Editors
THE PHILOSOPHY OF HILARY PUTNAM (2015)
In Preparation:
THE PHILOSOPHY OF UMBERTO ECO
THE PHILOSOPHY OF JULIA KRISTEVA
THE PHILOSOPHY OF MARTHA NUSSBAUM
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THE LIBRARY OF LIVING PHILOSOPHERS
VOLUME XXXIV
THE PHILOSOPHY OF
HILARY PUTNAM
EDITED BY
RANDALL E. AUXIER,
DOUGLAS R. ANDERSON,
AND
LEWIS EDWIN HAHN
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY CARBONDALE
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS • OPEN COURT • ESTABLISHED 1887
Putnam Frontmatter.indd 5 3/26/2015 8:51:55 PM
To order books from Open Court, call 1-800-815-2280, or visit our website at
www.opencourtbooks.com.
Cover and frontispiece photos by Jan-Olav Wedin.
THE PHILOSOPHY OF HILARY PUTNAM
Open Court Publishing Company is a division of Carus Publishing Company,
dba Cricket Media.
Copyright © 2015 by The Library of Living Philosophers
First printing 2015
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording,
or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher, Open Court Publishing
Company, a division of Cricket Media, 70 East Lake Street, Suite 800, Chicago, Illinois 60601.
Printed and bound in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The philosophy of Hilary Putnam / edited by Randall E. Auxier, Douglas R. Anderson, and
Lewis Edwin Hahn, Southern Illinois University Carbondale.
pages cm. — (Library of living philosophers ; volume XXXIV)
Summary: “This volume consists of an intellectual autobiography by world-renowned
philosopher Hilary Putnam, 26 critical or descriptive essays, 26 replies by Hilary Putnam,
and a bibliography listing all of Putnam’s published writings”— Provided by publisher.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8126-9893-0 (hardback)
1. Putnam, Hilary. I. Auxier, Randall E., 1961– editor. II. Anderson, Douglas R., editor.
III. Hahn, Lewis Edwin, 1908–2004, editor.
B945.P874P49 2015
191—dc23
2015003628

The Library of Living Philosophers is published under the sponsorship of Southern Illinois
University Carbondale.
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GENERAL INTRODUCTION
TO
THE LIBRARY OF LIVING PHILOSOPHERS
Since its founding in 1938 by Paul Arthur Schilpp, the Library of Living
Philosophers has been devoted to critical analysis and discussion of some of
the world’s greatest living philosophers. The format for the series provides
for creating in each volume a dialogue between the critics and the great
philosopher. The aim is not refutation or confrontation but rather fruitful
joining of issues and improved understanding of the positions and issues
involved. That is, the goal is not overcoming those who differ from us
philosophically but interacting creatively with them.
The basic idea for the series, according to Professor Schilpp’s general
introduction to the earlier volumes, came from the late F.C.S. Schiller’s
essay “Must Philosophers Disagree?” While Schiller may have been overly
optimistic about ending “interminable controversies” in this way, it seems
clear that directing searching questions to great philosophers about what
they really mean or how they might resolve or address difficulties in their
philosophies can produce far greater clarity of understanding and more
fruitful philosophizing than would otherwise exist.
To Paul Arthur Schilpp’s undying credit, he acted on this basic thought
in launching the Library of Living Philosophers. The general plan for the
volumes has sometimes been altered to fit circumstances, but in ways that
have well served the mission of the series. The intellectual autobiographies,
or, in a few cases, the biographies, shed a great deal of light on both how the
philosophies of the great thinkers developed and the major philosophical
movements and issues of their time; and many of our great philosophers seek
to orient their outlook not merely to their contemporaries but also to what
they find most important in earlier philosophers. The critical perspectives
of our distinguished contributors have often stood on their own as landmark
studies, widely cited and familiar not only to subsequent specialists, but
frequently discussed in their own right as pieces of great philosophy. The
bibliography helps to provide ready access to the featured scholar’s writ-
ings and thought.
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viii GENERAL INTRODUCTION
There is no reason to alter our historical format or mission for the
present century. We are pleased that the success of the Library of Living
Philosophers has led to a wider appreciation of the need for dialogue of the
type our format creates. We respect the efforts of other academic publish-
ers to employ versions of our format to facilitate pluralistic, meaningful,
sharp, constructive, and respectful exchange in philosophical ideas. We are
fortunate to have such support from the Open Court Publishing Company,
the Edward C. Hegeler Foundation, and the Board of Trustees, College of
Liberal Arts, and the Department of Philosophy of Southern Illinois Uni-
versity Carbondale, as to permit us to carry out our purpose with a degree
of deliberate thoroughness and comprehensiveness not available to other
academic publishers, and we have rededicated ourselves to maintaining
the highest standards in scholarship and accuracy anywhere to be found in
academic publishing. In recognition of the permanent value that has been
accorded our previous volumes, we are committed to keeping our volumes
in print and available, and to maintaining our sense of the long-term im-
portance of providing the most reliable source for scholarly analysis by the
most distinguished voices of our day about the most important philosophical
contributions of the greatest living thinkers.
The Library of Living Philosophers has never construed “philosophy”
in a narrow and strictly academic sense. Past volumes have been dedicated
both to the leading academic philosophers and to the most visible and in-
fluential public philosophers. We renew with each volume our historical
orientation to the practice of philosophy as a quest for truth, beauty, and
the best life, and we affirm that this quest is a public activity and its results
a public possession, both for the present generation and in the future. We
seek, with the sober judgment of our Advisory Board, to bring forth vol-
umes on the thought of figures whose ideas have made a genuine differ-
ence to the lives of people everywhere. Ideas truly do have consequences,
and many of the ideas that have had the broadest impact were indeed best
articulated by the figures to whom we have dedicated past volumes. The
selfless work of Paul Arthur Schilpp and Lewis Edwin Hahn in realizing
this mission stands among the most important scholarly contributions to
twentieth-century philosophy. Their judgment regarding how best to pursue
the purposes of the Library of Living Philosophers has found constant and
continuous confirmation in the reception and ongoing importance accorded
this series. Let us continue in their footsteps as well as we may.
Randall E. auxiER
dEpaRtmEnt of philosophy
southERn illinois univERsity CaRbondalE
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FOUNDER’S GENERAL INTRODUCTION*1
TO
THE LIBRARY OF LIVING PHILOSOPHERS
According to the late F. C. S. Schiller, the greatest obstacle to fruitful dis-
cussion in philosophy is “the curious etiquette which apparently taboos the
asking of questions about a philosopher’s meaning while he is alive.” The
“interminable controversies which fill the histories of philosophy,” he goes
on to say, “could have been ended at once by asking the living philosophers
a few searching questions.”
The confident optimism of this last remark undoubtedly goes too far.
Living thinkers have often been asked “a few searching questions,” but
their answers have not stopped “interminable controversies” about their
real meaning. It is nonetheless true that there would be far greater clarity of
understanding than is now often the case if more such searching questions
had been directed to great thinkers while they were still alive.
This, at any rate, is the basic thought behind the present undertaking. The
volumes of the Library of Living Philosophers can in no sense take the place
of the major writings of great and original thinkers. Students who would
know the philosophies of such men as John Dewey, George Santayana,
Alfred North Whitehead, G. E. Moore, Bertrand Russell, Ernst Cassirer,
Karl Jaspers, Rudolf Carnap, Martin Buber, et al., will still need to read the
writings of these men. There is no substitute for first-hand contact with the
original thought of the philosopher himself. Least of all does this Library
pretend to be such a substitute. The Library in fact will spare neither effort
nor expense in offering to the student the best possible guide to the published
writings of a given thinker. We shall attempt to meet this aim by providing
at the end of each volume in our series as nearly complete a bibliography of
the published work of the philosopher in question as possible. Nor should
one overlook the fact that essays in each volume cannot but finally lead
to this same goal. The interpretive and critical discussions of the various
*This General Introduction sets forth in the founder’s words the underlying
conception of the Library. —R. E. A.
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