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Mind and Brain Portal

Welcome to the Mind and Brain Portal. This is an interdisciplinary point of entry to such related fields as the cognitive psychology, philosophy of mind, neuroscience, and linguistics.

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Hilary Whitehall Putnam (born July 31, 1926) has been a central figure in Western philosophy since the 1960s, especially in philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, and philosophy of science.[1] He is known for his willingness to apply an equal degree of scrutiny to his own philosophical positions and those of others, subjecting each position to rigorous analysis until he exposes its flaws.[2] As a result, he has acquired a reputation for frequently changing his own position.[3]

In philosophy of mind, Putnam is known for his hypothesis of multiple realizability, and for the concept of functionalism, an influential theory regarding the mind-body problem.[1][4] In philosophy of language, along with Saul Kripke and others, he developed the causal theory of reference, and formulated an original theory of meaning, inventing the notion of semantic externalism based on a famous thought experiment called Twin Earth.[5]

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Research conducted at UCL has indicated that brain activity in the moments preceding an event affects the ability to recall it [1].

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References

^ a b Casati R., "Hillary Putnam" in Enciclopedia Garzanti della Filosofia, ed. Gianni Vattimo. 2004. Garzanti Editori. Milan. ISBN 8811505151
^ King, P.J. One Hundred Philosophers: The Life and Work of the World's Greatest Thinkers. Barron's 2004, p. 170.
^ Jack Ritchie (June, 2002). TPM:Philosopher of the Month. Retrieved on 2006-08-01.
^ LeDoux, J. (2002). The Synaptic Self; How Our Brains Become Who We Are. New York: Viking Penguin. ISBN 8870787958.
^ P. Clark-B. Hale (eds.), "Reading Putnam", Blackwell, Cambridge (Massachusetts)-Oxford 1995.