Month: September 2018
Chapter 26 – Is Being Good its own Reward?
At the end of season 2, the Judge says that the fact that our humans continued to improve after death does not count because they could be doing it out of self-interest. People should do good because it is good and not for a reward or to avoid punishment. Michael […]
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Chapter 8 – Moral Development in the Afterlife
While there are many threads in episode 8 relating to themes in future episodes, Chapter 8 presents the audience with an indictment of the permanency of the binary afterlife. In many religions, there is the good place and the bad place. Where one goes depends on one’s actions while alive. […]
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Chapter 7 – The Moral Obligation to Kill Janet
In order to stop Michael from going into retirement where he will be tortured for all eternity, Eleanor hatches a plan to stop the train that will take Michael into retirement. Stopping the train means killing Janet by pressing a red button. Eleanor justifies doing a small bad for a […]
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Chapter 6 – Is it Reasonable to Break a Promise?
Chapter six introduces an ethical dilemma for Eleanor. She has promised Michel to help find the cause of the glitches. Since she is the glitch, then helping Michael is contrary to her self-interest. Chidi provides Eleanor with moral guidance and Tim Scanlon’s book What We Owe to Each Other. Scanlon […]
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Chapter 5 – Moral Motivations Count More than Outcomes
The moral message being made in episode 5 seems to be that one’s motivations matter more than the outcomes for determining if one is a good person or not. This is illustrated through three different focuses in the episode. Episode 5 begins with Eleanor undecided about what yogurt flavor to […]
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