NONFICTION

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

by Rebecca Goldstein
Pantheon. Mar. 2014. 464p. bibliog. ISBN 9780307378194. $29.95; ebk. ISBN 9780307908872. PHIL
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It would have been easy for a lesser author to drop Plato in a number of modern-day situations, cook up some clever dialog, and land on the conclusion that the philosopher is as comfortable at Google headquarters as he was at the acropolis. Instead, MacArthur Fellow Goldstein (36 Arguments for the Existence of God) imagines Plato and his interlocutors as complex characters. She shows that we've brought Plato forward with us into the boardroom and the classroom because of our dependence on the Socratic method for arriving at new knowledge and refining old wisdom. Alongside a few more serious essays, we find Plato debating the distinction between information and knowledge with a Google employee, taking a personality test at New York City's 92nd Street Y, and debating a "hardline" host on cable news.
VERDICT Goldstein is a serious scholar, and her careful citations, footnotes, and background research betray this fact. However, anyone with an interest in philosophy, Plato, or his legacy on Western culture will find this book to be an accessible and enjoyable read. [See Prepub Alert, 9/30/13.]
Reviewed by Robert C. Robinson, CUNY , Feb 01, 2014
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