Cato Institute Book Discussion: "The Mattering Instinct"

Event Title:
Online Book Forum: "The Mattering Instinct: How Our Deepest Longing Drives Us and Divides Us"

Registering for the Online Event:
To register for and watch this FREE event, go to: https://www.cato.org/events/mattering-instinct

You can also watch it live on Vimeo - https://vimeo.com/1168512740

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Event Description:
The universal human drive to matter—to feel our lives hold genuine significance—fuels both our greatest achievements and our deepest divisions. It inspires innovation, care, and cooperation while giving rise to ideological extremism, tribalism, and zero-sum conflicts that can challenge individual liberty and peaceful coexistence.

MacArthur Fellow and National Humanities Medalist Rebecca Newberger Goldstein joins us to discuss her latest book, The Mattering Instinct: How Our Deepest Longing Drives Us and Divides Us. Through real-life stories of individuals pursuing meaning—from artists and thinkers to everyday heroes and reformed extremists—Goldstein illustrates how the uniquely human need for meaning inspires “mattering projects” that drive both progress and polarization.

Cato research fellow and psychologist Adam Omary will moderate the discussion and offer commentary on the book’s implications for addressing the contemporary crisis of meaning, defending civil liberties, and advancing human progress.

About the Speakers:
* Rebecca Newberger Goldstein is an author, MacArthur Fellow, and National Humanities Medalist. She holds a Ph.D. in the philosophy of science from Princeton University.
* Adam Omary is a psychologist, neuroscientist, and Research Fellow at Human Progress and the Cato Institute's Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity.

About the Cato Institute:
Founded in 1976, the Cato Institute is a libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. The institute advocates for free market economic policies, protection of civil liberties, criminal justice reform, and a non-interventionist foreign policy. It publishes the annual "Human Freedom Index" that ranks countries based on their levels of personal & economic freedoms, and it hosts cross-partisan discussions monthly at "Cato Unbound". To learn more, go to https://www.cato.org/about

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