Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
*Why does the longing to matter shape everything from family and status to politics and human rights?*
Rebecca Goldstein explores how our sense of self-mattering may emerge from our nature as social creatures and how it can shape culture, status, conflict, dignity, and the challenges of modern society.
0:00 Is Self-Mattering an Evolutionary Spandrel?
2:53 How Mattering Creates Society
6:14 How Status and Competition Shape Mattering
12:49 When Traditional Mattering Projects Fail
16:04 Redirecting Mattering Toward Human Flourishing
*Rebecca Newberger Goldstein* is a MacArthur Fellow and National Humanities Medal recipient whose ten acclaimed books span philosophy and fiction, including her new work _The Mattering Instinct: How Our Deepest Longing Drives Us and Divides Us._
*More from Rebecca Goldstein on Closer To Truth:*
* Closer To Truth: The Podcast: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFJr3pJl27pLLkP0kHQKL9nZh35UkgkR_
* Rebecca N. Goldstein - Closer To Truth: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFJr3pJl27pJHIwgd48GqNCJ0XWg8vuLu
* Goldstein’s Mind-Body Problem: loc.closertotruth.com/theory/goldstein-s-mind-body-problem
* Website: closertotruth.com/contributor/rebecca-newberger-goldstein
*Subscribe to Closer To Truth:* youtube.com/@CloserToTruthTV
*Join the Community:*
* Membership (5,000+ videos): closertotruth.com/register
* Audio Podcast: closertotruth.podbean.com
* Support the Show: closertotruth.com/donate
* Official Merchandise: bonfire.com/store/closertotruth
*Follow Us:*
* Facebook: facebook.com/CloserToTruthTV
* Instagram: instagram.com/closertotruth
* X: https://x.com/CloserToTruth
Closer To Truth, created and hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn, presents the world's greatest thinkers exploring humanity's deepest questions. Discover fundamental issues of existence and sentience. Engage new and diverse ways of thinking. Appreciate intense debates. Share your own opinions. Seek your own answers.
#CloserToTruth #Meaning #RebeccaNewbergerGoldstein #MatteringInstinct #HumanFlourishing
*Why does the longing to matter shape everything from family and status to politics and human rights?*
Rebecca Goldstein explores how our sense of self-mattering may emerge from our nature as social creatures and how it can shape culture, status, conflict, dignity, and the challenges of modern society.
0:00 Is Self-Mattering an Evolutionary Spandrel?
2:53 How Mattering Creates Society
6:14 How Status and Competition Shape Mattering
12:49 When Traditional Mattering Projects Fail
16:04 Redirecting Mattering Toward Human Flourishing
*Rebecca Newberger Goldstein* is a MacArthur Fellow and National Humanities Medal recipient whose ten acclaimed books span philosophy and fiction, including her new work _The Mattering Instinct: How Our Deepest Longing Drives Us and Divides Us._
*More from Rebecca Goldstein on Closer To Truth:*
* Closer To Truth: The Podcast: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFJr3pJl27pLLkP0kHQKL9nZh35UkgkR_
* Rebecca N. Goldstein - Closer To Truth: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFJr3pJl27pJHIwgd48GqNCJ0XWg8vuLu
* Goldstein’s Mind-Body Problem: loc.closertotruth.com/theory/goldstein-s-mind-body-problem
* Website: closertotruth.com/contributor/rebecca-newberger-goldstein
*Subscribe to Closer To Truth:* youtube.com/@CloserToTruthTV
*Join the Community:*
* Membership (5,000+ videos): closertotruth.com/register
* Audio Podcast: closertotruth.podbean.com
* Support the Show: closertotruth.com/donate
* Official Merchandise: bonfire.com/store/closertotruth
*Follow Us:*
* Facebook: facebook.com/CloserToTruthTV
* Instagram: instagram.com/closertotruth
* X: https://x.com/CloserToTruth
Closer To Truth, created and hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn, presents the world's greatest thinkers exploring humanity's deepest questions. Discover fundamental issues of existence and sentience. Engage new and diverse ways of thinking. Appreciate intense debates. Share your own opinions. Seek your own answers.
#CloserToTruth #Meaning #RebeccaNewbergerGoldstein #MatteringInstinct #HumanFlourishing
