Ethics and objectivity in Hilary Putnam's pragmatism

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to present Hilary Putnam's approach to objectivity in the field of ethics and morality. In his pragmatist intellectual phase, the author devotes a great deal of effort to combat the skepticism and relativism which, in his opinion, threaten contemporary societies. The recognition of pluralism and the existence of moral disagreements does not, according to him, exclude the possibility of justifying the objectivity of value judgements. In "Norms and Values" (2008), Putnam argues that there are moral judgements that are true or false, better or more convenient perspectives than others, and that we have criteria to determine this. He defends their cognitive character and claims the importance of the processes of justification, which involve both critical and reflective thinking and different instances of discussion in which our reasons are subjected to evaluation.