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Plato at the Googleplex: Why Philosophy Won't Go Away, by Rebecca Goldstein
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Is philosophy obsolete? Are the ancient questions still relevant in the age of cosmology and neuroscience, not to mention crowd-sourcing and cable news? The acclaimed philosopher and novelist Rebecca Newberger Goldstein provides a dazzlingly original plunge into the drama of philosophy, revealing its hidden role in today’s debates on religion, morality, politics, and science.
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At the origin of Western philosophy stands Plato, who got about as much wrong as one would expect from a thinker who lived 2,400 years ago. But Plato’s role in shaping philosophy was pivotal. On her way to considering the place of philosophy in our ongoing intellectual life, Goldstein tells a new story of its origin, re-envisioning the extraordinary culture that produced the man who produced philosophy.
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But it is primarily the fate of philosophy that concerns her. Is the discipline no more than a way of biding our time until the scientists arrive on the scene? Have they already arrived? Does philosophy itself ever make progress? And if it does, why is so ancient a figure as Plato of any continuing relevance? Plato at the Googleplex is Goldstein’s startling investigation of these conundra. She interweaves her narrative with Plato’s own choice for bringing ideas to life—the dialogue.
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Imagine that Plato came to life in the twenty-first century and embarked on a multicity speaking tour. How would he handle the host of a cable news program who denies there can be morality without religion?� How would he mediate a debate between a Freudian psychoanalyst and a tiger mom on how to raise the perfect child? How would he answer a neuroscientist who, about to scan Plato’s brain, argues that science has definitively answered the questions of free will and moral agency? What would Plato make of Google, and of the idea that knowledge can be crowd-sourced rather than reasoned out by experts? With a philosopher’s depth and a novelist’s imagination and wit, Goldstein probes the deepest issues confronting us by allowing us to eavesdrop on Plato as he takes on the modern world.
(With black-and-white photographs throughout.)
- Sales Rank: #85237 in Books
- Published on: 2015-01-06
- Released on: 2015-01-06
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.00" h x .90" w x 5.20" l, .99 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 480 pages
From Booklist
*Starred Review* Plato lives! Brilliantly re-creating Plato’s philosophic dialogues, Goldstein transports the ancient Greek philosopher to the twenty-first-century headquarters of Google, where his probing voice engages three modern hosts in exploring what knowledge means in an age of computerized crowd sourcing. Further dialogues put Plato into conversation with an advice columnist fielding questions about love and sex, with a child psychologist arguing with an obsessive mother, with a television broadcaster trying to score political points, and with a neuroscientist certain he can resolve all intellectual questions with brain scans. Though Goldstein’s gifts as a novelist animate these dialogues, her scholarly erudition gives them substance, evident in the many citations from Plato’s writings seamlessly embedded in the conversational give-and-take. Goldstein’s scholarship also informs the expository essay that prefaces each dialogue. Readers soon realize that the philosophical project that Plato launched 2,500 years ago has evolved as modern thinkers such as Kant, Leibnitz, and Spinoza have redefined its focus and methods. Readers will also confront the doubts of twenty-first-century skeptics—particularly scientists—who dismiss philosophizing as an anachronistic word game. But Goldstein prepares readers to grapple with changes in philosophic thinking and—more important—to recognize the abiding value of an enterprise too important to leave to academic specialists. --Bryce Christensen
Review
“Rebecca Newberger Goldstein’s�Plato at the Googleplex�offers an ambitious apologia for philosophy against its naysayers through a detailed engagement with the ideas of its founding father. It is, quite simply, a tour de force: erudite, intelligent, insightful and beautifully written. . . .��Goldstein’s achievement . . . is truly remarkable, not least because she has dared to make the experience of learning about Plato’s philosophy highly�pleasurable.” —Times Higher Education Supplement (UK)
“Highly original. . . .�In Plato at the Googleplex, Rebecca Newberger Goldstein set out to showcase, in sometimes startling ways, the continuing relevance of a classic philosopher. But what’s remarkable is that she actually brings off this tour de force with both madcap brilliance and commanding authority.” —Michael Dirda, Washington Post
“I have not done justice to the richness and detail of this invigorating book. The combination of historical scholarship, lively presentation, vernacular dialogue, and intellectual passion make it a unique achievement. Plato may have died over two thousand years ago, but he lives on, vibrantly, in these piquant pages.” —Colin McGinn, Wall Street Journal
“Books like Rebecca Newberger Goldstein’s�Plato at the Googleplex�are of the rare type that contribute to the popularization of knowledge and create appetite for more. After reading this book you will . . . question your views and knowledge about politics, psychology, science, history, and ethics.” —Liana Giorgi, New York Journal of Books
“Rebecca Newberger Goldstein manages to be so funny and right.” —Stephen Fry�
“Consequently�Plato at the Googleplex�merits comparison to two of the best books of its kind in recent years, Kathryn Schulz’s�Being Wrong�and Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow, but Goldstein’s is, in my opinion, the best of the lot, not because it necessarily has more facts or science, but because it hits more deeply and broadly at the faults of our societal discourse and makes us (well, me at least) feel embarrassed over it.” —David Auerbach, Slate
“Into a weighty discussion of the Platonic world view Goldstein inserts fictional interludes that see Plato, Cromebook in hand, touring the Googleplex, a neuroscience lab and beyond. . . . This thought experiment usefully casts an eye on our turbocharged century. And it shows what survives of this classical titan: an ability to plumb the deep questions we still grapple with, from the nature of knowledge to morality.” —Nature
“A witty, inventive, genre-bending work . . . Goldstein’s philosophical background serves her impressively in this reconsideration of Plato’s work, and her talent as a fiction writer animates her lively cast of characters. . . . [Her] bright, ingenious philosophical romp makes Plato not only relevant to our times, but palpably alive.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Plato lives! Brilliantly re-creating Plato’s philosophic dialogues, Goldstein transports the ancient Greek philosopher to the twenty-first-century headquarters of Google, where his probing voice engages three modern hosts in exploring what knowledge means in an age of computerized crowd sourcing. . . . Though Goldstein’s gifts as a novelist animate these dialogues, her scholarly erudition gives them substance, evident in the many citations from Plato’s writings seamlessly embedded in the conversational give-and-take. Goldstein’s scholarship also informs the expository essay that prefaces each dialogue.” —Bryce Christensen, Booklist (starred review)
“Plato at the Googleplex is an important and amazing book. It is important for two reasons: because philosophy is important, and Rebecca Goldstein does a wonderful job of explaining why, and because Plato’s genius remains inspiring, and she also does a wonderful job of explaining why, without losing sight of the fact that Plato lived and thought in a very different time, or losing�sight of the fact that he was the beginning, not the end, of philosophy. It is amazing because the book takes great risks—including the risk of including 21st century dialogues about Plato’s philosophy, and thereby risking comparison with the greatest writer of philosophical dialogues that ever lived—and succeeds, in part because she keeps the dialogues as light hearted in tone as they are serious in intent. As she did in Betraying Spinoza,�Goldstein beautifully combines the skills of a distinguished novelist with breathtaking philosophical scholarship. I repeat, this book is important and amazing.” —Hilary Putnam, John Cogan University Professor of the Humanities Emeritus, Harvard University�
“Plato at the Googleplex is a wonderful book—enjoyably readable, full of stimulating insights and refreshing observations, unintimidatingly erudite, and salted with a gentle wit. �It will reward both readers who are professional philosophers as well as amateurs who are interested in acquiring a deeper understanding of what serious philosophy is all about and why it continues to flourish.” —Harry Frankfurt, author of On Bullshit
“This could be one of the best ever demonstrations of the value and utility of philosophy. Richly insightful, beautifully written, it is at once introduction, exploration and application, revealing the fascination and significance of philosophical ideas and their relevance to life. Like the Plato who figures largely here, Goldstein has both literary and philosophical gifts of the highest order: the combination is superb.” —A.C. Grayling, author of The God Argument
“It would have been easy for a lesser author to drop Plato in a number of modern-day situations, cook up some clever dialog, and land on the conclusion that the philosopher is as comfortable at Google headquarters as he was at the acropolis. Instead, MacArthur Fellow Goldstein imagines Plato and his interlocutors as complex characters. She shows that we’ve brought Plato forward with us into the boardroom and the classroom because of our dependence on the Socratic method for arriving at new knowledge and refining old wisdom. Alongside a few more serious essays, we find Plato debating the distinction between information and knowledge with a Google employee, taking a personality test at New York City’s 92nd Street Y, and debating a ‘hardline’ host on cable news. Verdict: Goldstein is a serious scholar, and her careful citations, footnotes, and background research betray this fact. However, anyone with an interest in philosophy, Plato, or his legacy on Western culture will find this book to be an accessible and enjoyable read.” —Robert C. Robinson, Library Journal
“Novelist and philosopher Goldstein has an imaginative conceit: to bring Plato into the 21st century by having him go on an American book tour. Here, Plato hauls around a Google Chrome computer, generally finds modern technology “wondrous,” and takes the Meyer-Briggs personality inventory. In lieu of Socratic dialogues, he engages in contemporary American ones. . . . These witty contemporary sections constitute about a quarter of the book, while the remainder consists of an in-depth study of Plato’s views and the historical and intellectual context of his times. . . . [Goldstein] proves a clear and engaging writer, and though the academic parts of this book take precedence over the entertaining and accessible contemporary passages, overall, this is both an enjoyable and a serious way to (re)learn Plato’s ideas.” —Publishers Weekly
“A MacArthur Fellow and award-winning author of fiction and nonfiction, Goldstein always delivers something exciting for inquiring minds. Here, she imagines Plato brought to life, hashing out challenges from Fox News on religion and morality, keeping Freudians and tiger moms from coming to blows, and wondering why crowd sourcing trumps experts. C'mon, philosophy is fun, and it sells. Think Daniel Dennett, Alain de, Botton, Jim Holt.” —Barbara Hoffert’s MY PICK, Library Journal
“‘Every generation could use a Plato,’ said Clancy Martin in The Atlantic. If you doubt it, pick up Rebecca Newberger Goldstein’s ‘ingenious, entertaining, and challenging new book.” In an attempt to challenge the widespread contemporary assumption that science is leading us ever closer to resolving all mysteries, the ever-inventive philosopher-novelist has imagined Plato on tour in America engaging members of today’s chattering class in friendly dialogues that expose the inadequacies of various accepted paths to wisdom. . . . In the end, Plato can be a maddening figure because he never did get around to defining what living the good life would be. Much as he believed that careful thought might help us conduct ourselves more wisely, he remained skeptical even of his own capacity to discern the answer.” —The Week, Book of the Week
About the Author
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 and nonfiction studies of Kurt G�del and Baruch Spinoza. She has received a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, has been designated a Humanist of the Year and a Freethought Heroine, and is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She was awarded the National Humanities Medal in 2015.�She lives in Massachusetts.
Most helpful customer reviews
95 of 104 people found the following review helpful.
Philosophizing with Plato and with Rebecca Goldstein
By Robin Friedman
Philosophy is the love of wisdom. In her new book, "Plato at the Googleplex: Why Philosophy Won't Go Away" (2014) Rebecca Goldstein examines the continuous nature of philosophical questioning through a partly expository partly fictional presentation of the thought of the ancient Greek philosopher, Plato. The twentieth century philosopher Alfred North Whitehead observed that all Western philosophy basically constitutes a series of "footnotes to Plato".
Rebecca Goldstein serves as both author and guide in this latest "footnote to Plato". One can only be humbled by her range of learning and her literary skill. Goldstein, a MacArthur Fellow, has written philosophical studies, including a book about Spinoza, Betraying Spinoza: The Renegade Jew Who Gave Us Modernity (Jewish Encounters) and philosophical novels, most recently "36 Arguments for the Existence of God". 36 Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of Fiction (Vintage Contemporaries) She combines philosophy, fiction, and much else in this book. It is rare that a thinker can write with such scholarship and insight on diverse, difficult subjects such as ancient philosophy and history, popular culture, Spinoza, and the mathematical philosopher Kurt Godel. Goldstein does so with a breathtaking ease.
Goldstein aims to show how philosophy, in the face of its many detractors, remains of critical importance. There are many ways of approaching the question of the continued value of philosophy, but Goldstein here does so almost exclusively through a detailed consideration of Plato. She argues that Plato, who wrote over 2400 years ago did not have the best or final answers to philosophical questions. She finds Plato important in raising and formulating questions, showing their significance, pointing out directions, and in being open to differing points of view and to changing his mind. Broadly speaking, Goldstein's Plato asks readers and students to consider what makes life important and worth living. Goldstein argues that Plato's approach to this question led to the approach of modern secularism as opposed, most obviously, to the nearly contemporaneous writings of the Hebrew prophets, as well as to the teachings of the Buddha, Confucianism, and Zoroastrianism. Again in a broad sense, Goldstein follows Plato in his emphasis on secularism, mathematics,science, and on thinking in a humanistic way about the value of human life.
There are books and jokes that begin with the line "Plato walks into a bar and ... " which Goldstein trades on to an extent. There is no mistaking, however, the serious, erudite character of this book. The book alternates two kinds of discussions. In the first, Goldstein writes as a philosopher discussing Plato's teachings and his character, in so far as they can be determined, his literary works, his relationship with Socrates. Her discussion is historically informed. When I first studied Plato in the 1960s, little attention was given to putting Plato's writings in the context of ancient Greek history. Philosophical study at the time tended to be markedly ahistorical. It focused almost exclusively on setting out and analyzing arguments. Goldstein, to the contrary, develops her Plato in the context of the Homeric poems, the Persian wars, the rise of Athens, and the war with Sparta. She tries to show how key Platonic concepts, such as that indicated by the difficult word "arete" changed in Plato's development of them from their historic background in Greek thought. Her expositions of Plato manage to be passionate, eloquent, and learned at once. She offers copious footnotes not only to Plato's texts but to a vast range of modern scholarship.
These expository chapters each alternate with a fictitious scene. Plato is brought to life in our contemporary 21st century, speaks English, and engages in discussion with a variety of characters. Instead of walking into a bar, Plato, when the reader first meets him in person walks into the Googleplex where he meets, becomes fascinated with, and masters the use of the Internet. He is at the Googleplex for a book signing. In the process, he has a discussion with a hostess, who questions the value of "elitist" philosophy and a young man. In subsequent chapters, Plato discusses education and child-rearing with a psychotherapist and warrior mom. He assists an Ann Landers-type columnist in responding to letters for help with love problems. He appears on a cable tv news program with an obnoxiously hostile host. Finally Plato has a discussion about the mind and body with a neuroscientist and his young assistant before submitting to a scanning of his brain.
These fictional present-day dialogues are carried out with panache and with a great deal of laugh-aloud humor. The discussions are tough and colloquial and display a surprisingly sure pulse on contemporary habits. Plato receives a convincing portrayal as Goldstein uses and refers to his own dialogues wherever possible. The discussions sometimes get bogged down. But these chapters enhance Goldstein's expository sections. She succeeds in her goal of showing the questions Plato raised about reality, ethics, knowledge, and the nature of a meaningful human life remain embedded in contemporary life and are ignored or brushed aside with peril.
This book touched me deeply. As a philosophy major in the 1960s, I became enamored of Plato. I studied classical Greek with the intent of understanding him better and reading his works in the original. I pursued a different career and returned often to Plato and to other philosophy, including Spinoza. Goldstein draws many parallels between Plato and Spinoza and has also written about him. In addition to the philosophical discussions, the book brought back memories about why I began to love Plato and philosophy and continue to study.
For all its literary flourishes in the fictional sections, this book is slow and difficult, both in the text and in the detailed notes which are essential for understanding. The readers of this book will likely be those who are already committted to the value of the philosophic endeavor. Such readers, and those new to philosophy but willing to engage with Plato and Goldstein, will find this book inspiring. It made me want to go back and reread Plato again. Books tend to find their own proper readers.
Robin Friedman
41 of 44 people found the following review helpful.
How Is Plato Relevant in the Crowd-Sourcing Age of the Internet?
By M. JEFFREY MCMAHON
We can thank Rebecca Newberger Goldstein for spending her youth reading hundreds of science fiction novels for coming up for the premise of Plato at the Googleplex. Goldstein says science fiction novels required that you accept one absurd premise and then the rest of the novel had to obey common logic. That’s what she’s done here: She’s plucked Plato from around 400 B.C.E. and placed him in think tank discussions, Google headquarters, and cable TV talking heads debates to show, not only did Plato set the groundwork for rigorous debate, but that he is as relevant today as he ever was.
Goldstein’s book is no gushing iconic portrait of Plato. She makes it clear that he was imperfect, partly for living in a time that was in the dark ages scientifically.
With powerful intellectual rigor, Goldstein explains in the first chapter Plato’s place in history and why Plato’s argument for making the abstract as relevant as the concrete. Then in the next chapter Plato argues with a technophile at a chic bar in San Francisco about how arguments are made. The technophile believes in the democracy of the Internet and crowd-sourcing, using Google as a “rolling plebiscite.” but finds his arguments refuted by Plato. The great philosopher also demarcates the difference between “Google information” and real knowledge.
My favorite passage is Plato describing Internet niche websites in terms of the Myth of the Cave, with a fragmented society only listening to its own points of view. “People are all chained to their own points of view so they can’t share knowledge . . .”
For a book that dissects the folly of talking head TV and radio, the Ethical Answers Search Engine, and ideas of democracy in the technological age, Goldstein has written an ambitious, heady primer. Recommended.
58 of 68 people found the following review helpful.
If you worried that this might be "Plato For Dummies", you'll be pleasantly surprised.
By Geoff Arnold
Unless "For Dummies" is all you want out of life.
I've read all of Rebecca Goldstein's previous works; I've attended talks by her; I guess you can call me a fan. However when I heard about this book, I was hesitant. I am not one of those who regards all of philosophy as a commentary on Plato; I think he got some important things VERY wrong, and that the history of philosophy has been something of a twelve-step recovery from his influence. If pressed, I would prefer to divide philosophy into Pre-Hume and Post-Hume.
Rebecca Goldstein has made me rethink my position. And she has done so using a strange, hard-to-pigeonhole work which is deeply scholarly and whimsical at the same time.
Recommended.
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