Rebecca Goldstein
A novelist who wrestles with Spinoza and a philosopher who writes page-turners, she makes abstract ideas feel urgently human.
Born 1950 (age 76)·American philosopher and novelist·Birthday: February 23·Baby Boomers
Biography
Rebecca Goldstein operates in the rich borderlands between rigorous philosophy and narrative fiction. With a doctorate from Princeton, she first made her mark not with an academic treatise but with 'The Mind-Body Problem,' a witty novel that sent up the world of professional philosophy while grappling seriously with its central dilemmas. This set the pattern for her career: using the tools of fiction—character, plot, voice—to explore the lives and ideas of thinkers like Kurt Gödel and Baruch Spinoza. Her biographical work on Spinoza, 'Betraying Spinoza,' won a MacArthur 'Genius' Grant, recognizing her unique ability to animate intellectual history. Goldstein writes with a novelist's empathy for the person behind the proposition, asking what it costs to live a life of the mind. In an age of specialization, she remains a vital synthesizer, demonstrating that the stories of ideas are inseparable from the human hearts and minds that hold them.
Baby Boomers
1946–1964
The largest generation in history at the time. Shaped by postwar prosperity, the Vietnam War, the sexual revolution, and Watergate. They questioned every institution their parents built — then ran them.
Rebecca was born in 1950, placing them squarely in the Baby Boomers. The events that shaped this generation — postwar prosperity, civil rights, Vietnam, and the counterculture — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Rebecca Was Born
The biggest hits of 1950
#1 Movie
Cinderella
Best Picture
All About Eve
#1 TV Show
Texaco Star Theatre
Rebecca's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1950Born
Korean War begins
Gas: $0.27/galHome: $7,354Min wage: $0.75/hrPresident: Harry S. Truman"Goodnight Irene" — Gordon Jenkins & The WeaversBest Picture: All About Eve
1955Started school
Rosa Parks refuses to give up her bus seat
Gas: $0.29/galHome: $9,550Min wage: $0.75/hrPresident: Dwight D. Eisenhower"Rock Around the Clock" — Bill Haley & His CometsBest Picture: Marty
1963Became a teenager
JFK assassinated in Dallas; Martin Luther King's 'I Have a Dream' speech
Gas: $0.31/galHome: $13,100Min wage: $1.25/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"Sugar Shack" — Jimmy Gilmer & The FireballsBest Picture: Tom Jones
1966Could drive
Star Trek premieres on television
Gas: $0.32/galHome: $14,200Min wage: $1.25/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"The Ballad of the Green Berets" — SSgt Barry SadlerBest Picture: A Man for All Seasons
1968Could vote
Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy assassinated
Gas: $0.34/galHome: $14,950Min wage: $1.60/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"Hey Jude" — The BeatlesBest Picture: Oliver!
1971Turned 21
Voting age lowered to 18 in the US
Gas: $0.36/galHome: $18,100Min wage: $1.60/hrPresident: Richard Nixon"Joy to the World" — Three Dog NightBest Picture: The French Connection
1980Turned 30
John Lennon shot and killed in New York
Gas: $1.19/galHome: $47,200Min wage: $3.10/hrPresident: Jimmy Carter"Call Me" — BlondieBest Picture: Ordinary People
1990Turned 40
Hubble Space Telescope launched; Germany reunifies
Gas: $1.15/galHome: $79,100Min wage: $3.80/hrPresident: George H.W. Bush"Hold On" — Wilson PhillipsBest Picture: Dances with Wolves
2000Turned 50
Y2K passes without incident; contested Bush-Gore election
Gas: $1.51/galHome: $119,600Min wage: $5.15/hrPresident: Bill Clinton"Breathe" — Faith HillBest Picture: Gladiator
2010Turned 60
Deepwater Horizon oil spill; iPad launched
Gas: $2.79/galHome: $147,800Min wage: $7.25/hrPresident: Barack Obama"Tik Tok" — KeshaBest Picture: The King's Speech
2020Turned 70
COVID-19 pandemic shuts down the world
Gas: $2.17/galHome: $248,800Min wage: $7.25/hrPresident: Donald Trump"Blinding Lights" — The WeekndBest Picture: Nomadland
2026Age 76 today
Gas: $3.91/galPresident: Donald Trump
Key Achievements
- Awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 1996 for her work bridging fiction and philosophy.
- Won the National Jewish Book Award for her novel 'Mazel' in 1995.
- Authored 'Incompleteness: The Proof and Paradox of Kurt Gödel,' a celebrated work on the mathematician's theorems.
- Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2005.
Did You Know?
Her first husband was physicist Sheldon Goldstein, not to be confused with the physicist Sheldon Lee Glashow.
She was a student of philosopher Thomas Nagel at Princeton University.
Goldstein's novel '36 Arguments for the Existence of God' includes an appendix that seriously outlines and refutes the philosophical arguments presented in the story.
She is a fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, an organization that promotes scientific skepticism.
“The point of philosophy is to start with something so simple as not to seem worth stating, and to end with something so paradoxical that no one will believe it.”
