*What makes human life fundamentally different from all other forms of life?* Rebecca Newberger Goldstein argues that humans uniquely seek to justify their existence, driven by a deep need for meaning beyond survival.
0:00 The Human Drive to Justify Existence
1:04 The Emergence of Existential Thought
2:26 From Survival to Meaning
5:07 Self-Reflection, Language, and Mattering
10:48 Mattering and Connectedness in Human Life
*Rebecca Newberger Goldstein* is a MacArthur Fellow and National Humanities Medal recipient whose ten acclaimed books span philosophy and fiction, including her new work _The Mattering Instinct: How Our Deepest Longing Drives Us and Divides Us._
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Closer To Truth, created and hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn, presents the world’s greatest thinkers exploring humanity’s deepest questions. Discover fundamental issues of existence and sentience. Engage new and diverse ways of thinking. Appreciate intense debates. Share your own opinions. Seek your own answers.
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