The Entanglement Of Fact And Value

Hilary Putnam is one of the most influential philosophers in decades, and enjoys high reputation in Anglo-American philosophical circles. The relationship between fact and value is very important part in Putnam's internal realism. Putnam is, in general, averse to dualisms. Fact and value, mind and body, mind and world, observation and theory, truth and convention, the analytic and the synthetic, are dichotomies Putnam has systematically criticized over the years. In his writing, Putnam criticizes the deep-seated dichotomies that between fact and value. He examines the history of the fact/value dichotomy, and criticizes the concept of "fact", then deconstructs the metaphysical foundation, thus results in the collapse of the fact/value dichotomy.The most valuable is that, Putnam reconstructs the fact and value. He argues that descriptions of facts are value-laden, and value judgments contain factual elements. The critique of the fact/value dichotomy prompts strong reactions in academic circle; most of scholars agree that the Putnam's critique of the fact/value dichotomy is thorough. But some scholars argue that the entanglement of fact and value has limitation. Therefore, I analyze and discuss profoundly about the entanglement of fact and value, and attempt to make some innovations in this thesis based on grasping the main points.This thesis treats the Putnam's critique of the fact/value dichotomy and the entanglement of fact and value. Lastly, I point out the limitation of the Putnam's entanglement of fact and value, that is, Putnam do not make the distinction between fact and value, so I attempt to discuss the distinction of the fact and value based on the analysis of logic. I think that all our putative judgments can divide into three judgments:thin factual judgment,thick ethical judgment,thin ethical judgment. It is aimed to prove that we cannot infer a "thick ethical concept"(or a "thin ethical concept") from a "thin factual judgment", and cannot infer a "thick ethical concept"(or a "thin factual concept") from a "thin ethical judgment". So we should make the distinction between fact and value.