Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, author of the novels The Mind-Body Problem and 36 Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of Fiction, as well as books on Gödel and Spinoza, and who wrote last year’s hit work of non-fiction, Plato at the Googleplex: Why Philosophy Won’t Go Away, will be a recipient of one of the ten 2014 National Humanities Medals awarded at a ceremony in Washington, DC next Thursday.

According to a press release from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), “The National Humanities Medal honors an individual or organization whose work has deepened the nation’s understanding of the human experience, broadened citizens’ engagement with history and literature or helped preserve and expand Americans’ access to cultural resources.”

Goldstein is a visiting professor at the New College of the Humanities in London and will be a visiting professor at NYU next year. She received her PhD in philosophy from Princeton in 1977.

You may recall that in March we discussed various possible philosopher nominees for this medal. Goldstein’s name did not come up.