Category: Season 1
Chapter 13 – Do Our Moral Failings Create Our Own Bad Place?
In Chapter 13, Sean decides that The Bad Place is entitled to two souls. However, since they have all done bad things, Sean gives Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani, and Jason thirty minutes to decide which two will be taken to the Bad Place. This bickering leads to Eleanor having a revelation […]
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Chapter 12 – The Mindy Problem
Chapter 12 has Eleanor, Janet, and Jason (Jianyu) going to The Medium Place while Michael, Chidi, Tahani, and the Other Eleanor are trying to convince Sean that Eleanor should stay. The Medium Place was created for Mindy St. Claire. Mindy was a bad corporate lawyer in the 1980’s. However, one […]
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Chapter 11 – Not All Good Actions Count
Chapter 11 is focusing on Eleanor trying to earn her way into The Good Place by raising her point total. Sean, the judge of disputes between The Good Place and The Bad Place will soon arrive to decide Eleanor’s fate. While your official number stops at death, Tahani suggests they […]
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Chapter 10 – Eleanor, Aristotle, and the Importance of Friends
One of the central themes of Chapters 8-10, and in fact the entire series, is the importance of friendship for moral development. In Chapter 8, we have a flashback of Eleanor with a horrible roommate. Eleanor then behaves badly as a person and a roommate. In Chapter 9, we have […]
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Chapter 9 – The Importance of Self-Worth
One of the more subtle, yet important themes in Chapter 9 is self-worth. The idea seems to be that one’s self-worth can be deeply affected by the actions and words of those around us. If one is told that one is worthless, then one will feel worthless. We see this […]
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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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Chapter 4 – The Parable of the Sock, AKA, Philosophy for Dummies
At the beginning of chapter 4, we see Eleanor in class. Chidi is discussing self-identity. On the chalkboard, there is a list of works. Two things stood out to me. The first was a work by David Hume listed as A Treatise of the Self with a date of 1738. […]
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