Ruth Anna Putnam

Ruth Anna Putnam (previously Ruth Anna Hall and Ruth Anna Hall Mathers; born 20 September 1927) is an American philosopher and Professor Emerita of Philosophy at Wellesley College.

Putnam was born to a Jewish mother and a Christian father in Berlin, though her parents " saw themselves as atheist". When she was five years old she was sent to live with her Christian grandparents when her anti-Nazi parents went into hiding.

Putnam emigrated to the United States after World War II and was reunited with her parents. She studied chemistry at UCLA, obtaining a B.S. degree, and "fell in love with Philosophy of Science and later turned to other areas of Philosophy", going on to gain a Ph.D. in philosophy at UCLA in 1962 with a dissertation on "The Interpretation of Theoretical Statements".

After three years as Acting Assistant Professor in Philosophy at the University of Oregon Putnam moved to Wellesley as lecturer in 1963 taught there until 1998, becoming Professor of Philosophy, serving as chair of the Department of Philosophy 1979-1982 and 1990-1883. She now has the title of Professor Emerita.

Much of her work has focused on the philosopher William James (1842-1910) and she edited The Cambridge Companion to William James (Cambridge UP, 1997, ISBN 9780521459068); she also worked on John Dewey (1859-1952).

She married the philosopher Hilary Putnam in 1962. Both brought up by atheist parents, they decided to bring their children up as a Jewish family. Ruth had her bat mitzvah in 1998, saying that it sent the message that "We are not going to finish Hitler's work for him. We are not going to assimilate". At the time of Hilary's death, age 89, in 2016 they had two daughters, two sons and four granddaughters.