person
Hilary Putnam
Harvard philosopher (1926–2016); functionalism
Harvard philosopher who in the 1960s introduced functionalism, the position that mental states are functional, not material, that subsequently became the foundation of computationalist theories of mind.
past Cogan University Professor, Harvard University
Strategy positions
Alignment firstmixed
Solve technical alignment before capability thresholds closeFoundational reference for the philosophical position that AI minds are possible in principle. Putnam himself later moved away from strong functionalism.
Mental states could in principle be realized in any of an indefinite number of physical systems.
Context: Functionalism, the foundational philosophical assumption of strong AI.
Closest strategy neighbours
by jaccard overlapOther people whose strategy tags overlap with Hilary Putnam's. Overlap is on tag identity, not stance; opposites can show up if they reference the same tags.
Record last updated 2026-04-25.