The Theoretical and the Moral Face of Realist Philosophy: Themes from Putnam

This volume probes into themes and arguments developed over seven decades by Hilary Putnam’s multidimensional way of analytic thinking. Putnam composed a number of substantive papers and an interview specifically for this book, which reveal directions, connections and ruptures within his extensive philosophical achievements. The contributors, among them longstanding interlocutors of Putnam, are critically directed to Putnamian topics across areas that range from epistemology, metaphysics and the philosophy of language, of logics, of physics, of mind, of perception to metaphilosophy, axiology, ethics, and political philosophy. This many-voiced book offers new insights into seminal Putnamian views and concerns, which get examined in relevant philosophical and transdisciplinary contexts and comprise issues ranging from the Twin Earth thought experiment, cognitive capacities transcending formalization, perception and thought, interpreting quantum mechanics to liberal naturalism, scientific and common-sense realism, conceptual pluralism, truth-aptness of ethical judgements, and much more. Contributors: H. Putnam, D. Wiggins, D. Follesdal, C. Travis, P. Jacob, M. De Caro, C. Wuthrich, A. Burri, W.K. Essler, M. Frauchiger.