174 - Rebecca Goldstein: Spinoza, Atheism, and the Philosophy of Literature

Rebecca Goldstein is a philosopher and novelist. She received her Ph.D. in philosophy from Princeton University and studied with Thomas Nagel. She is a MacArthur Follow and was awarded the National Humanities Medal by Barack Obama. Rebecca is also an expert on Spinoza and Gödel, and has a whole bevy of other wide-ranging interests. In this episode, Robinson and Rebecca discuss her novel the Mind-Body Problem, atheism, Spinoza, and what makes life meaningful in a godless world. Rebecca’s most recent book is Plato at the Googleplex: Why Philosophy Won’t Go Away (Pantheon, 2014).

Rebecca’s Website: https://www.rebeccagoldstein.com

Thirty-Six Arguments for the Existence of God: https://a.co/d/dAoDqbU

Plato at the Googleplex: https://a.co/d/c1vvVaw

OUTLINE
00:00 In This Episode…
00:45 Introduction
02:40 Publishing a First Novel
14:01 Philosophy and Literature
22:11 From Judaism to Atheism
42:36 Arguments Against the Existence of God
01:02:45 On Spinoza
01:16:14 Mattering

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

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