Rebecca Newberger Goldstein on Plato at the Googleplex: Why Philosophy Won’t Go Away

The British Humanist Association is proud to have the internationally renowned philosopher, writer, psychologist, and American Humanist Association’s 2011 Humanist of the Year, Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, for a discussion on her latest book, Plato at the Googleplex: Why Philosophy Won’t Go Away.


Plato at the Googleplex: Why Philosophy Won’t Go Away refutes the assertion of some that philosophy is dead, and has no intellectual substance or future in this scientific era. In a witty and imaginative way, Rebecca will offer insight into the significant progress philosophy has made and why it is critical to our lives today.


In her book, Plato is resurrected into the twenty-first century and, naturally, embarks on a speaking tour in which he engages in a debate between a Freudian psychoanalyst and a tiger mother; encounters the host of a right-wing news programme who denies there can be morality without religion; and discovers that in a world with Google, information can be sourced from the crowds rather than reasoned by experts.


About the speaker:

Rebecca Newberger Goldstein received her doctorate in philosophy from Princeton University. Her award winning books include the novels The Mind-Body Problem, Properties of Light, and 36 Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of Fiction. She has received a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, has been designated a Humanist of the Year, and is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.


About the British Humanist Association:

The British Humanist Association is a national charity working on behalf of non-religious people who seek to fulfil ethical and fulfilling lives on the basis of reason and humanity. It promotes a secular state and equal treatment in law and policy of everyone, regardless of religion or belief.