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Quote by Hilary Putnam

“While there is such a thing as correctness in ethics, in interpretation, in mathematics, the way to understand that is not by trying to model it on the ways in which we get things right in physics.”

Quote by Hilary Putnam

Author

Hilary Putnam
Hilary Putnam

Hilary Putnam was an American philosopher known for his contributions to analytic philosophy, philosophy of mathematics, and philosophy of mind. His work involved themes such as truth, meaning, knowledge, and the nature of the mind. Putnam had a significant impact on the philosophical landscape in the mid-20th century, particularly in the areas of language philosophy and epistemology. more

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“Some philosophers are drawn to the subject [of philosophy] via their interest in the nature and structure of the world external to us. Others are drawn to it by an interest in the capacities that make humans distinctive in the world. I am a philosopher of the latter sort. My work thus far has been clustered around the nexus of knowledge, communication, and human action.”

“Reason is universal because no attempted challenge to its results can avoid appealing to reason in the end-by claiming, for example, that what was presented as an argument is really a rationalization. This can undermine our confidence in the original method or practice only by giving us reasons to believe something else, so that finally we have to think about the arguments to make up our minds.”

“It is possible, of course, to operate with figures mechanically, just as it is possible to speak like a parrot: but that hardly deserves the names of thought. It only becomes possible at all after the mathematical notation has, as a result of genuine thought, been so developed that it does the thinking for us, so to speak.”