The University of Pittsburgh Department of Philosophy has awarded the 2015 Nicholas Rescher Prize for Systematic Philosophy to Hilary Putnam, Cogan University Professor Emeritus at Harvard University. The prize consists of a gold medal and $30,000. The prize ceremony will take place at the University of Pittsburgh in Fall of 2015.

The website for the prize elaborates on the idea of “systematic philosophy”:

In recent years, specialization and division of labor have come to the forefront in philosophy as in other branches of science and scholarship.  But philosophy is not– or should not be– just another particularized field of learning.  For here if anywhere it is needful to keep the big picture in view and to examine the larger issues of the human condition that have preoccupied philosophers throughout the ages.  The ability to do just this– to address some of the traditional “big questions” of philosophical interest and yet to do so in a way that commands the respect of specialists– is a rare but nevertheless much-needed talent.  The aim of the Nicholas Rescher Prize for Systematic Philosophy is to reward and showcase the work of scholars who have brought this talent to realization.

(via Anil Gupta)