Hilary Putnam

Abstract

We explain the biographical and philosophical trajectories that led to Hilary Putnam’s turn to pragmatism in the latter part of his career. For Putnam, pragmatism’s primary appeal lies in its advocacy of a set of interrelated conceptual and philosophical sensibilities: an anti-reductionism and pluralism about what there is, a natural realism, a rejection of dualisms (such as the fact-value dichotomy), fallibilism conjoined with an anti-skepticism, and the prioritizing of the agent point of view in our philosophical views. We then examine Putnam’s disagreements with Richard Rorty. We conclude by explaining Putnam’s joint vision with his wife, Ruth Anna Putnam (a renowned scholar of the pragmatist tradition), for the role pragmatism can play in the future of philosophy.