The Mattering Map | Rebecca Newberger Goldstein | Substack

On the Transitory Nature of Happiness and Why It Doesn't Matter

The day before pub date finds me trying to figure out why I'm not going to pieces. Jimmy Choo shoes are not entirely irrelevant.

Jan 12 • Rebecca Newberger Goldstein

The Harder Problem of Consciousness?

This morning’s reading has sent me delving into reverie and reverence

Dec 30, 2025 • Rebecca Newberger Goldstein

Blasted by Spinoza

Spinoza’s Ethics is one of the foundational works of modernity, but it is notoriously difficult. I read it for the first time when I was teaching it…

Dec 19, 2025 • Rebecca Newberger Goldstein

Dreams of Borszczow On Thanksgiving Day

Every Thanksgiving, that paradigmatically American holiday. I revisit the untraversable distance between my beloved father and me.

Nov 30, 2025 • Rebecca Newberger Goldstein

Philosophical Fiction (And the Fiction of Philosophers)

Iris Murdoch, who was like me both a philosopher and a novelist, has always meant a lot to me, which is why I can't stop arguing with her.

Nov 22, 2025 • Rebecca Newberger Goldstein

The Mattering Map

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