Plato at the Googleplex: Why Philosophy Won't Go Away - Softcover

Long awaited... Rebecca Goldstein manages to be so funny and right -- Stephen Fry An important and amazing book. Goldstein beautifully combines the skills of a distinguished novelist with breathtaking philosophical scholarship. -- Hilary Putnam, John Cogan University Professor of the Humanities Emeritus, Harvard University A wonderful book - enjoyably readable, full of stimulating insights and refreshing observations, unintimidatingly erudite, and salted with a gentle wit. -- Harry Frankfurt * author of On Bullshit * Felicitously written, impressively researched, insightful, important, entertaining, independent-minded and glowing with intelligence... Plato is brought marvellously to life and relevance in these passionate pages. -- Colin McGinn * Wall Street Journal * 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 *

What would the ancient Greek philosopher make of the twenty-first-century Google headquarters? A dazzling exploration of the role of ancient philosophy in modern life from the acclaimed writer and thinker. Imagine that Plato came to life in the twenty-first century and embarked on a multi-city speaking tour. How would he mediate a debate between a Freudian psychoanalyst and a 'tiger mum' on how to raise the perfect child? How would he handle the host of a right-wing news program who denies there can be morality without religion? What would Plato make of Google, and of the idea that knowledge can be crowdsourced rather than reasoned out by experts? Plato at the Googleplex is acclaimed thinker Rebecca Newberger Goldstein's dazzling investigation of these conundra. With a philosopher's depth and erudition 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; it is a stunningly original plunge into the drama of philosophy, revealing its hidden role in today's debates on religion, morality, politics and science.