84. The Mattering Instinct with Rebecca Goldstein

Support Humanism Now and Join Our Community! — https://ko-fi.com/humanismnowpod "We are creatures of matter who long to matter — and one of the strongest manifestations of this is people who deny that we are matter." Professor Rebecca Newberger Goldstein is a philosopher, novelist, and MacArthur Fellow whose books include The Mind-Body Problem, Incompleteness, Betraying Spinoza, and 36 Arguments for the Existence of God (a work of fiction). In 2015 she was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Obama and has been named Humanist of the Year by the American Humanist Association. She joins us to discuss her latest book, The Mattering Instinct: How Our Deepest Longing Drives Us and Divides Us, and will be the keynote speaker at the World Humanist Congress in Ottawa this August. Topics we cover ✔︎ What the mattering instinct is, where it comes from, and why it may be the defining feature of our species ✔︎ The four locations on the mattering map — transcenders, communal materers, heroic strivers, and competitors — and what they reveal about human motivation ✔︎ Why public debates about religion so often fail — and what understanding mattering tells us about how to talk across belief divides Connect with Rebecca and find out more The Mattering Instinct: https://www.rebeccagoldstein.com/books/the-mattering-instinct Rebecca's website: https://www.rebeccagoldstein.com World Humanist Congress, Ottawa, August 2026: https://humanists.international/world-humanist-congress Send us Fan Mail Support the show Support Humanism Now & Join Our Community! Follow @HumanismNowPod | YouTube | TikTok | Instagram | Facebook | Threads | X.com | BlueSky Humanism Now is produced by Humanise Live a podcast production agency based in London, serving charities, companies, and individuals across the globe. Contact us to get starting in podcasting today at humanise.live or hello@humanise.liveMusic: Blossom by Light Prism Podcast transcripts are AI-generated and may contain errors or omissions. They are provided to make our content more accessible, but should not be considered a fully accurate record of the conversation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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How to Disagree Without Dehumanising | Sharon Booth, Solutions Not Sides

"Education shouldn't be about telling young people what to think. It should be telling them how they can think." — Sharon Booth How do you hold an honest conversation about one of the world's most di...

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83. Seth Andrews, Host of 'The Thinking Atheist', on Leaving Faith, Finding Values, and Fighting Tribalism

Support Humanism Now & Join Our Community! | https://ko-fi.com/humanismnowpod "I found atheism is not an inoculation against irrationality or awfulness." — Seth AndrewsSeth Andrews spent 14 years as a...

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82. The Quiet Revival That Wasn't: David Voas on Faked Data and the Truth About Religion in Britain

Support Humanism Now & Join Our Community! "I don't think that we have any solid evidence of a religious revival underway in England, or for that matter, anywhere else." — David Voas In April 2025, t...

12 Heinä 38min

81. The Re-emergence of Eugenics and How to Fight Back with Science, with Rebecca Sear

"I used to think eugenics had died out after the Second World War. I no longer believe that, unfortunately." — Rebecca SearMost of us think of eugenics as a horror confined to the past. It isn't. This...

5 Heinä 35min

80. Inside the Ex-Muslim Movement - Muhammad Syed on why leaving Islam Can Be Liberating, and Dangerous

"One of the things I heard again and again was: I thought I was the only one." — Muhammad Syed Leaving religion can be one of the most liberating decisions of a person's life. For those leaving Islam,...

29 Kesä 42min

79. Meet strangeness with kindness - Kestral Gaian on the role of representation, community and politics in fiction

"It's really about what happens when kindness is the first response to strangeness." — Kestral Gaian What does it take to stay human in a world that often forgets what that means? This episode explore...

21 Kesä 33min

78. "No Hope But Peace and Justice" - An Israeli and a Palestinian in Dialogue

"Many in society saw the news and understood there's no hope for peace. But I understood there's no hope but peace." — Yaniv AkninWhat does humanism actually ask of us when we confront the Israel-Pale...

5 Kesä 43min