As The Good Place comes to an end this week, we at Harvard University Press wanted to take a moment to appreciate a show that took moral philosophy into the mainstream. Who’d have thought we’d ever see an NBC episode named after one of our backlist titles? Or Kantian ethics discussed alongside fro-yo? Philosophy professor Chidi, one of the main characters in the show, is to thank for this, so we imagined which other HUP books he would have on his bookshelf.
“It’s like, who died and left Aristotle in charge of ethics?”
“Plato.”
One of our favorite jokes from season 1, episode 3. We’d like to think Chidi would be a Loeb Classical Library fan, so we’re hoping he’d refer to our versions of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, Plato’s Euthyphro. Apology. Crito. Phaedo, and maybe even Plato’s Republic as well.
A reoccurring theme throughout the show is the question: What is good? How can we know, and how important is it? Perhaps Chidi could have used some help from Richard Kraut’s book, What Is Good and Why. Using ancient Greek philosophy, Kraut develops this thought into a good-centered moral philosophy, an “ethics of well-being” that requires all of our efforts to do some good.
“Okay, let’s save humanity shall we? Can one of you Janets get me a chalkboard, and a copy of Judith Shklar’s Ordinary Vices?” —Chidi, season 4, episode 10
It seems that a copy of Ordinary Vices, along with a chalkboard and some pretzels, may (or may not, depending on how the finale pans out) save humanity.
Chidi is seen reading Immanuel Kant’s Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals in the show. At only 75 pages, Chidi would surely want to know more about it. That’s where Dieter Schönecker and Allen Wood’s commentary comes in. The authors describe the ways the it forms the basis of our modern moral outlook, and explain key Kantian concepts of duty, the good will, and moral worth.
Charles Taylor is one of the most famous living philosophers of our time. Chidi would surely have at least one of his books on his bookshelf. We think Sources of the Self would be on there, as it gives insight into modern subjectivity, in all its epistemology, aesthetic, and political ramifications, and has its roots in ideas of human good.
And we couldn’t write about books and The Good Place without mentioning What We Owe To Each Other. Pamela Hieronymi, philosophy advisor for The Good Place, introduced the show’s creator, Michael Schur, to the work of T. M. Scanlon (her dissertation advisor at Harvard), leading to the reoccurrence of the book in the show. According to his interview with the New York Times in 2018:
“Schur loved not only the central thesis of What We Owe to Each Other but also the book’s title. ‘It assumes that we owe things to each other. It starts from that place. It’s not like: Do we owe anything to each other? It’s like: Given that we owe things to each other, let’s try to figure out what they are. It’s a very quietly subversive idea.”
At the beginning of season 1, episode 6 (aptly named, What We Owe to Each Other), Chidi hands Eleanor a copy of Scanlon’s book, much to our delight. The premise of the book becomes a recurring theme throughout the show, with Chidi using key themes and arguments from the book on his quest to save humanity, and teaching Eleanor and company about contractualism. T. M. Scanlon spoke to The Crimson last year about the inclusion of his book in the show:
“It’s a weird thing to have your book appear as a character on a TV show. It’s sort of like having your child chosen to be in the school play. You’re pleased that they’re there, but worried that something embarrassing is going to happen. But so far not.”
The Good Place might be almost over, but you can still channel your inner Chidi by reading books on moral philosophy. Which books would you add to the list?
