Hilary Putnam and Liberal Naturalism

Being a naturalist was for Hilary Putnam at the same time unavoidable and difficult. Given his recognition of the ineliminable role the natural sciences play in the understanding of human beings, resorting to their perspective in epistemological and metaphysical issues was for him virtually mandatory. On the other hand, Putnam was a religious person who deeply felt the need for a spiritual dimension to life, and subscribed to a kind of “naturalistic theology, that best reconciles my own spiritual needs with my critical intelligence” (Putnam 2016c, 163). Combining these two dimensions of his personality proved to be one of the most difficult tasks of his intellectual life: the purpose of the paper is to show how by embracing the perspective of liberal naturalism Putnam eventually succeeded in this task.