REBECCA NEWBERGER GOLDSTEIN – THE MATTERING INSTINCT

Join award-winning philosopher and novelist Rebecca Newberger Goldstein for a conversation on The Mattering Instinct: How Our Deepest Longing Drives Us and Divides Us. She will be joined in conversation by novelist–psychotherapist Yael Goldstein-Love.

Drawing on biology, psychology, and philosophy, Goldstein argues that our need to matter – and the “mattering projects” it inspires – shapes our greatest achievements as well as our most painful conflicts. Through vivid portraits of figures ranging from Scott Joplin and William James to ordinary individuals whose lives were transformed by their search for significance, she reveals how this instinct influences identity, relationships, culture, and politics.

Decades in the making, The Mattering Instinct offers a far-reaching exploration of why we seek meaning and recognition – and how understanding this universal drive may help us bridge divides and better understand one another. It’s a fascinating take on a profound yet little-understood aspect of the human psyche.

Rebecca Newberger Goldstein is the author of ten books of fiction and nonfiction, including Plato at the Googleplex, The Mind-Body Problem, 36 Arguments for the Existence of God, and Betraying Spinoza. She is a MacArthur Fellow, a recipient of the National Humanities Medal, and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Yael Goldstein-Love is the author of Overture/The Passion of Tasha Darsky and The Possibilities, a critically acclaimed speculative novel about motherhood and the multiverse. She is a psychotherapist focusing on the transition to parenthood and co-founder of the literary studio Plympton.

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