{"id":6582,"date":"2016-03-16T05:07:30","date_gmt":"2016-03-16T05:07:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2016\/03\/16\/wisdom-from-putnam-on-science-and-scientism\/"},"modified":"2016-03-16T05:07:30","modified_gmt":"2016-03-16T05:07:30","slug":"wisdom-from-putnam-on-science-and-scientism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2016\/03\/16\/wisdom-from-putnam-on-science-and-scientism\/","title":{"rendered":"Wisdom from Putnam on Science and Scientism"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here is a repost from 2009 in observance of the passing of the distinguished Harvard philosopher.  Please note: 'Hilary,' not 'Hillary.'<\/span><\/p>\n

……………………………….<\/span><\/p>\n

Hilary Putnam, Mathematics, Matter and Method<\/strong> (Cambridge University Press, 1975), pp. xiii (emphasis<\/em> added):<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

. . . I regard science as an important part of man's knowledge of reality; but there is a tradition with which I would not wish to be identified, which would say that scientific knowledge is all of man's knowledge. I do not believe that ethical statements are expressions of scientific knowledge; but neither do I agree that they are not knowledge at all. The idea that the concepts of truth, falsity, explanation, and even understanding are all concepts which belong exclusively to science seems to me to be a perversion<\/em> . . . .<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Putnam does not need the MP's imprimatur<\/em> and nihil obstat<\/em>, but he gets them anyway, at least with respect to the above quotation. The italicized sentence is vitally important. In particular, you will be waiting a long time if you expect evolutionary biology to provide any clarification of the crucial concepts mentioned. See in particular Putnam's "Does Evolution Explain Representation?" in  Renewing Philosophy<\/strong> <\/span>(Harvard University Press, 1992).<\/span><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Hilary Putnam, Blogger<\/a><\/div>\n
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\"\"<\/a>Is it Obvious that God is not a Being Among Beings?<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/fieldset>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here is a repost from 2009 in observance of the passing of the distinguished Harvard philosopher.  Please note: 'Hilary,' not 'Hillary.' ………………………………. Hilary Putnam, Mathematics, Matter and Method (Cambridge University Press, 1975), pp. xiii (emphasis added): . . . I regard science as an important part of man's knowledge of reality; but there is a … Continue reading “Wisdom from Putnam on Science and Scientism”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[219],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-scientism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6582\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}