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.