MacArthur Fellow and author of Plato at the Googleplex, Rebecca Newberger Goldstein returns with a book about the primal drive that in our species alone has been transformed into one of our most persistent and universal motivations: the longing to matter.

Drawing on biology, psychology, and philosophy, Goldstein argues that this longing is the source of both interpersonal and societal progress and conflict-the very crux of the human experience. The "mattering map," a concept that she first introduced in her bestselling novel The Mind-Body Problem, returns to illuminate how our need for significance shapes identity, relationships, and culture. Goldstein seamlessly merges rigorous scholarship with compelling storytelling, offering a framework to understand and harness this universal drive.

The Mattering Instinct is a profound exploration and a major intellectual contribution, decades in the making, of what it means to be human, challenging readers to reconsider their place in the world and their connections to others.