Rebecca Goldstein

{{Short description|American philosopher and writer (born 1950)}}

{{Infobox philosopher

|image = Rebecca Goldstein.jpg

|name = Rebecca Goldstein

|birth_name = Rebecca Newberger

|birth_date = {{birth date and age|1950|02|23}}

|birth_place = White Plains, New York, U.S.

|alma_mater = Barnard College (BA)
Princeton University (PhD)

|institutions = Columbia University
Rutgers University
Trinity College
Harvard University
New York University{{cite web|url=http://www.nyu.edu/content/nyu/en/about/news-publications/news/2015/september/rebecca-newberger-goldstein-named-2014-national-humanities-medal-recipient|title=Rebecca Newberger Goldstein Named 2014 National Humanities Medal Recipient|first=NYU Web|last=Communications|website=nyu.edu}}

|spouse = {{unbulleted list | {{marriage|Sheldon Goldstein|1969|1999|end=divorced}}|{{marriage|Steven Pinker|2007}}}}

| children = {{unbulleted list | Yael Goldstein Love (novelist) |

Danielle Blau (poet){{cite web |title=Sheldon Goldstein |url=https://sites.math.rutgers.edu/~zeilberg/math436/projects/RiosP.pdf |website=Rutgers University, Department of Mathematics}}

{{cite web |last1=Kadish |first1=Rachel |title=The Physics of Fiction, the Music of Philosophy: an Interview with Rebecca Newberger Goldstein |url=https://blog.pshares.org/the-physics-of-fiction-the-music-of-philosophy-an-interview-with-rebecca-newberger-goldstein/ |website=Ploughshares |publisher=Emerson College |date=2012}}

{{cite web |last1=Interview with Rebecca Goldstein |title=Novelist Rebecca Goldstein - The Mind-Body Problem |url=https://www.lukeford.net/profiles/profiles/rebecca_goldstein.htm |website=www.lukeford.net |date=2006}}

}}}}

Rebecca Newberger Goldstein (born February 23, 1950) is an American philosopher, novelist, and public intellectual. She has written ten books, both fiction and non-fiction. She holds a Ph.D. in philosophy of science from Princeton University, and is sometimes grouped with novelists such as Richard Powers and Alan Lightman, who create fiction that is knowledgeable of, and sympathetic toward, science.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/15/arts/design/15LIGH.html|title=Art That Transfigures Science|first=Alan|last=Lightman|newspaper=The New York Times|date=15 March 2003}}{{cite web|url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/2010/01/31/books/review/Schillinger-t.html|website=The New York Times|author=Schillinger, Liesl|title=Prove It|access-date=29 January 2010 }}

In her three non-fiction works, she has shown an affinity for philosophical rationalism, as well as a conviction that philosophy, like science, makes progress,{{cite web|url=http://chronicle.com/article/Is-Philosophy-Obsolete-/145837|title=How Philosophy Makes Progress|first=Rebecca Newberger|last=Goldstein|date=14 April 2014|via=The Chronicle of Higher Education}} and that scientific progress is itself supported by philosophical arguments.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/oct/19/rebecca-newberger-goldstein-interview-science-philosophy-plato-googleplex|title=Rebecca Newberger Goldstein: "Science is our best answer, but it takes a philosophical argument to prove that"|first=Andrew|last=Anthony|newspaper=The Observer |date=19 October 2014|via=The Guardian}}

Increasingly, in her talks and interviews, she has been exploring what she has called "mattering theory" as an alternative to traditional utilitarianism.{{cite web|url=https://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php/articles/3769|title=Feminism, Religion, and 'Mattering'|website=www.secularhumanism.org|date=26 July 2019 }}{{cite web|url=http://thehumanist.com/magazine/september-october-2014/features/the-machinery-of-moral-progress-an-interview-with-rebecca-newberger-goldstein|title=The Machinery of Moral Progress: An Interview with Rebecca Newberger Goldstein – TheHumanist.com|date=27 August 2014}} This theory is a continuation of her idea of "the mattering map", first suggested in her novel The Mind–Body Problem. The concept of the mattering map has been widely adopted in contexts as diverse as cultural criticism,{{cite book|last1=Grossberg|first1=Lawrence|title=We Gotta Get Out of This Place: Popular Conservatism and Postmodern Culture|url=https://archive.org/details/wegottagetoutoft0000gros|url-access=registration|date=1992|publisher=Routledge}}{{cite book|last1=Grossberg|first1=Lawrence|title=Cultural Studies in the Future Tense|date=2010|publisher=Duke University Press}} psychology,{{cite journal|last1=Kashak|first1=Ellyn|title=The Mattering Map: Integrating The Complexities of Knowledge, Experience and Meaning|journal=Psychology of Women Quarterly|date=2013|volume=37|issue=4|pages=436–443|doi=10.1177/0361684313480839|s2cid=144899088}} and behavioral economics.{{cite book|last1=Loewenstein, Meine|first1=G., K|title="On Mattering Maps" in Understanding Choice, Explaining Behavior: Essays in Honour of Ole-Jørgen Skog, Jon Elster, Olav Gjelsvik, Aanund Hyland, and Karl Moene (Eds.)|publisher=Oslo Academic Press|location=Oslo, Norway|pages=153–175}}

Goldstein is a MacArthur Fellow, and has received the National Humanities Medal{{cite web|url=http://www.neh.gov/about/awards/national-humanities-medals/rebecca-newberger-goldstein|title=Rebecca Newberger Goldstein|date=2 September 2015|website=National Endowment for the Humanities}} and the National Jewish Book Award.

Early life and education

Goldstein, born Rebecca Newberger, grew up in White Plains, New York. She was born into an Orthodox Jewish family. She has one older brother, who is an Orthodox rabbi, and a younger sister, Sarah Stern. An older sister, Mynda Barenholtz, died in 2001. She did her undergraduate work at City College of New York, UCLA, and Barnard College,{{Cite web |title=Our Lab {{!}} Barnard Year of Science |url=https://yearofscience.barnard.edu/our-lab |access-date=2022-08-16 |website=yearofscience.barnard.edu}} where she graduated as valedictorian in 1972. After earning her Ph.D. in philosophy from Princeton University, where she studied with Thomas Nagel and wrote a dissertation titled "Reduction, Realism, and the Mind", she returned to Barnard as a professor of philosophy.{{Cite web|title=Biographical Sketch|url=https://www.rebeccagoldstein.com/biocv|access-date=2021-01-08|website=www.rebeccagoldstein.com|language=en}}

Career

In 1983, Goldstein published her first novel, The Mind-Body Problem, a serio-comic tale of the conflict between emotion and intelligence, combined with reflections on the nature of mathematical genius, the challenges faced by intellectual women, and Jewish tradition and identity. Goldstein said she wrote the book to "insert 'real life' intimately into the intellectual struggle. In short, I wanted to write a philosophically motivated novel."{{cite web|url=http://www.rebeccagoldstein.com/Goldstein_bio.htm|title=Rebecca Goldstein web site|access-date=2006-11-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061212223302/http://www.rebeccagoldstein.com/Goldstein_bio.htm|archive-date=2006-12-12|url-status=dead}}

Her second novel, The Late-Summer Passion of a Woman of Mind (1989), was also set in academia.{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-05-21-bk-1024-story.html|title=Of Jews and Germans: The Conflict Unresolved : THE LATE-SUMMER PASSION OF A WOMAN OF MIND|author=Reichel, Sabine|website=Los Angeles Times|date=May 21, 1989}} Her third novel, The Dark Sister (1993), was a fictionalization of family and professional issues in the life of William James. She followed it with a short-story collection, Strange Attractors (1993), which was a National Jewish Honor Book and New York Times Notable Book of the Year.{{cite book|url=http://www.rebeccagoldstein.com/publications/strange-attractors-stories|title=Strange Attractors: Stories|first=Rebecca|last=Goldstein|year=1993|publisher=Viking}} A fictional mother, daughter, and granddaughter introduced in two of the stories in that collection became the main characters of{{cite news|first=Lore |last=Dickstein|title=World of Our Mothers|work= The New York Times|date=October 29, 1995 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/10/29/books/world-of-our-mothers.html}} Goldstein's next novel, Mazel (1995), which won the National Jewish Book Award{{Cite web|url=https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/awards/national-jewish-book-awards/past-winners?category=30754|title=Past Winners|website=Jewish Book Council|language=en|access-date=2020-01-20}} and the 1995 Edward Lewis Wallant Award.

A MacArthur Fellowship in 1996 led to the writing of Properties of Light (2000), a ghost story about love, betrayal, and quantum physics. Her most recent novel is 36 Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of Fiction (2010), which explores ongoing controversies over religion and reason through the tale of a professor of psychology who has written an atheist best-seller, while his life is permeated with secular versions of religious themes. National Public Radio chose it as one of its "five favorite books of 2010",{{cite news|first=Heller |last=McAlpin|title=People Are Talking About These Five Books|date=November 23, 2010|url=https://www.npr.org/2011/07/15/131356105/people-are-talking-about-these-five-books|work=National Public Radio}} and The Christian Science Monitor named it the best book of fiction of 2010.{{cite journal|url=http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/2010/1201/Best-books-of-2010-fiction/36-Arguments-for-the-Existence-of-God-by-Rebecca-Newberger-Goldstein|title=Best books of 2010: fiction|first=Marjorie |last=Kehe|date=1 December 2010|journal=The Christian Science Monitor}}

Goldstein has written two biographical studies: Incompleteness: The Proof and Paradox of Kurt Gödel (2005); and Betraying Spinoza: The Renegade Jew Who Gave Us Modernity (2006). Betraying Spinoza combined her continuing interest in Jewish ideas, history, and identity with an increasing focus on secularism, humanism, and atheism. Goldstein called the book "the eighth book I'd published, but [the] first in which I took the long-delayed and irrevocable step of integrating my private and public selves".{{cite web|author=Rebecca Newberger Goldstein|title=Flourishing in the Company of Like-Minded People|work= The Humanist|date= December 22, 2015 |url=http://thehumanist.com/magazine/january-february-2016/features/flourishing-company-like-minded-people#.VnnLsvqZx2I.twitter}} Together with 36 Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of Fiction, it established her as a prominent figure in the humanist movement, part of a wave of "new new atheists" marked by less divisive rhetoric and a greater representation of women.{{cite news| title=Atheists – naughty and nice – should define themselves | url=http://www.faithstreet.com/onfaith/2010/02/02/atheists-naughty-and-nice-should-define-themselves/2536 | author-link=Susan Jacoby | newspaper=The Washington Post | first=Susan | last=Jacoby}}

In 2014, Goldstein published Plato at the Googleplex: Why Philosophy Won't Go Away, an exploration of the historical roots and contemporary relevance of philosophy.

In addition to Barnard, Goldstein has taught at Columbia, Rutgers, and Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, and since 2014, she has beenSage Center for the Study of the Mind, "[http://www.sagecenter.ucsb.edu/distinguished-fellows/2013-2014 Distinguished Fellows for 2013-2014]" a visiting professor at the New College of the Humanities in London. In 2016, she was a visiting professor in the English department at New York University.{{cite web|work=New York University|title= "Rebecca Newberger Goldstein Named 2014 National Humanities Medal Recipient|date=September 3, 2015 |url=http://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2015/09/03/rebecca-newberger-goldstein-named-2014-national-humanities-medal-recipient.html}} In 2011, she delivered the Tanner Lectures on Human Values at Yale University, "The Ancient Quarrel: Philosophy and Literature". She serves on the Council on Values of the World Economic Forum,{{cite web|url=http://www.weforum.org/content/global-agenda-council-values-2014-2016-0|title=Global Future Councils|website=World Economic Forum}} and on the advisory board of the Secular Coalition for America.[https://www.secular.org/board Board]

Goldstein's writing has also appeared in chapters in a number of edited books, in journals including The Atlantic, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The New York Times Book Review, The New York Review of Books, The New Republic, The Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, Tikkun, Commentary, and in blog format in The Washington Post's "On Faith" section.{{cite web|url=http://www.rebeccagoldstein.com/publications?page=2|title=Articles, Chapters & Stories – Rebecca Newberger Goldstein|website=www.rebeccagoldstein.com}}{{cite news| url=http://www.faithstreet.com/onfaith/author/rebecca-goldstein |title=Rebecca Goldstein |work=www.faithstreet.com|access-date=2015-11-02}}

Personal life

Goldstein married her first husband, physicist Sheldon Goldstein, in 1969,Luke Ford, [http://www.lukeford.net/profiles/profiles/rebecca_goldstein.htm "Interview with Novelist Rebecca Goldstein - The Mind-Body Problem"], conducted by phone April 11, 2006, transcript posted at lukeford.net and they divorced in 1999. They are the parents of the novelist Yael Goldstein Love and poet Danielle Blau. In a 2006 interview with Luke Ford, Goldstein said:

{{Blockquote|text=I lived Orthodox for a long time. My husband was Orthodox. Because I didn't want to be hypocritical with our kids, I kept everything. I was torn like a character in a Russian novel. It lasted through college. I remember leaving a class on mysticism in tears because I had forsaken God. That was probably my last burst of religious passion. Then it went away, and I was a happy little atheist.}}

In 2007, Goldstein married cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker.{{cite news |last=Crace |first=John |date=June 17, 2008 |title=Interview: Harvard University's Steven Pinker |work=The Guardian |location=London |url=http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/profile/story/0,,2285952,00.html}}

Awards and fellowships

2014 National Humanities Medal (presented September 10, 2015, at the White House by President Barack Obama){{cite web|url=http://www.neh.gov/news/press-release/2015-09-03#.Vei700EU4GY.twitter|title=President Obama Awards 2014 National Humanities Medal|date=2 September 2015|website=National Endowment for the Humanities}}
2014 Richard Dawkins Award[https://richarddawkins.net/2014/08/rebecca-goldstein-receives-the-richard-dawkins-award-at-the-atheist-alliance-of-america-convention/ "Rebecca Goldstein receives the Richard Dawkins Award at the Atheist Alliance of America convention]
2013 Montgomery Fellow, Dartmouth College{{Cite web|url=https://montgomery.dartmouth.edu/rebecca-goldstein|title=Rebecca Goldstein {{!}} The Montgomery Fellows|website=montgomery.dartmouth.edu|date=5 January 2017|access-date=2020-01-28}}
2013 Moment Magazine Creativity Award{{Cite web|title=Rebecca Newberger Goldstein|url=https://momentmag.com/symposium-2013rebeccanewbergergoldstein/|website=Moment Magazine - The Next 5,000 Years of Conversation Begin Here|language=en-US|access-date=2020-05-26}}
2012 Franke Visiting Fellow, Whitney Humanities Center, Yale University{{Cite web|title=Romancing Spinoza {{!}} Whitney Humanities Center|url=https://whc.yale.edu/podcast/romancing-spinoza|website=whc.yale.edu|access-date=2020-05-26}}
2011 Humanist of the Year awarded April 2011 by the American Humanist Association{{Cite news|date=2011-06-10|title=Rebecca Newberger Goldstein: secular humanist with a soul|work=The Christian Science Monitor|url=https://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2011/0610/Rebecca-Newberger-Goldstein-secular-humanist-with-a-soul|access-date=2020-05-26|issn=0882-7729}}
2011 Freethought Heroine awarded October 2011 by the Freedom from Religion Foundation{{Cite web|title=Rebecca Newberger Goldstein – Freedom From Religion Foundation|url=https://ffrf.org/outreach/awards/freethought-heroine-award/item/20328-rebecca-newberger-goldstein|last=Seering|first=Lauryn|website=ffrf.org|date=April 2011 |language=en-gb|access-date=2020-05-26}}
2011 Miller Scholar, Santa Fe Institute{{Cite web|title=The Miller Scholarship {{!}} Santa Fe Institute|url=https://www.santafe.edu//research/initiatives/miller-scholarship|website=www.santafe.edu|language=en|access-date=2020-05-26}}
Best Fiction Book of 2010 ("36 Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of Fiction"), Christian Science Monitor
Humanist Laureate, awarded by the International Academy of Humanism, 2008{{cite web|url=http://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php?section=iah&page=index|title=Redirect|website=www.secularhumanism.org}}
Fellow, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, 2006–2007{{Cite web|url=https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/fellowship-program/fellows?keys=&year%5B%5D=2006&items_per_page=25|title=Fellows – Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Study|date=2018|website=Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Study|access-date=January 25, 2018}}
Guggenheim Fellow, 2006–2007{{Cite web|url=https://www.gf.org/fellows/all-fellows/rebecca-newberger-goldstein/|title=Jim Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation – Fellows|date=2017|website=Jim Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation|access-date=January 25, 2018}}
Koret Jewish Book Award in Jewish Thought,{{cite web|url=http://www.koretfoundation.org/|title=Koret Foundation -|website=Koret Foundation}} 2006, for Betraying Spinoza: The Renegade Jew who Gave Us Modernity
Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2005{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter G|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterG.pdf|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|access-date=16 April 2011}}
MacArthur Fellow, 1996{{Cite web|url=https://www.macfound.org/fellows/534/|title=Rebecca Goldstein – MacArthur Foundation|website=www.macfound.org|access-date=2020-01-28}}
National Jewish Book Award, 1995, for Mazel
Edward Lewis Wallant Award, 1995, for Mazel{{Cite web|title=Edward Lewis Wallant Award {{!}} University of Hartford|url=https://www.hartford.edu/academics/schools-colleges/arts-sciences/academics/departments-and-centers/greenberg-center-for-judaic-studies/edward-Lewis-Wallant-award.aspx#|website=www.hartford.edu|access-date=2020-05-26}}
Whiting Award, 1991{{cite web |url=http://www.rebeccagoldstein.com/Goldstein_bio.htm |title=Rebecca Newberger Goldstein bio |access-date=2007-09-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928013152/http://www.rebeccagoldstein.com/Goldstein_bio.htm |archive-date=2007-09-28 |url-status=dead }}