Lauener Foundation for Analytical Philosophy
Thursday 21 June 2012,
Bern, Switzerland
Lauener Prize for an Outstanding Oeuvre in Analytical Philosophy
Prizewinner 2012 Professor Hilary Putnam
Professor Hilary Putnam
(Harvard University)
Lauener Prize for an Outstanding Oeuvre in Analytical Philosophy
The fifth recipient of the Lauener Prize for an Outstanding Oeuvre in Analytical Philosophy is Hilary Putnam, Cogan University Professor Emeritus at Harvard University. The Lauener Prize is given for Putnam's body of philosophical work. Hilary Putnam is one of the most resourceful and seminal contemporary philosophers, a pivotal thinker, who has deeply influenced, and at the same time trenchantly strived against, main stream analytic philosophy since the mid-20th century. He has blazed paths in large parts of philosophy, especially in Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Language, Metaphilosophy, Axiology and Ethics as well as in Philosophy of Science and Mathematics. What is more, Hilary Putnam's philosophical journey serves for many as a model of epistemic responsibility. Akin to Rudolf Carnap, one of his primary mentors, Hilary Putnam has sought to avoid error and stagnation by pertinent self-criticism, consistently scrutinizing, adjusting, and amending his approaches accordingly.
