KIMBERLY S. ENGELS is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Molloy College, Rockville Centre, New York. She is the author of numerous book chapters and peer-reviewed journal articles, and is the co-editor of Westworld and Philosophy.

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• Contributors ixEditor’s Introduction and Acknowledgments: “We Are Not in This Alone” xviiKimberly S. EngelsForeword xixMichael Schur, creator of The Good PlaceIntroduction xxiiiPamela Hieronymi and Todd May, philosophical advisors to The Good PlacePart I “I Just Ethics’d You in the Face” 11 How Do You Like Them Ethics? 3David Baggett and Marybeth Baggett2 Don’t Let the Good Life Pass You By: Doug Forcett and the Limits of Self-Sacrifice 15Greg Littmann3 Luck and Fairness in The Good Place 25Scott A. Davison and Andrew R. DavisonPart II “Virtuous for Virtue’s Sake” 354 Can Eleanor Really Become a Better Person? 37Eric J. Silverman and Zachary Swanson5 The Good Place and The Good Life 47C. Scott Sevier6 The Ethics of Indecision: Why Chidi Anagonye Belongs in The Bad Place 57Traci PhillipsonPart III “All Those Ethics Lessons Paid Off” 657 Moral Absurdity and Care Ethics in The Good Place 67Laura Matthews8 The Medium Place: Third Space, Morality, and Being In Between 75Catherine M. Robb9 What We May Learn from Michael’s Solution to the Trolley Problem 87Andreas BrunsPart IV “Help Is Other People” 9710 Some Memories You May Have Forgotten: Holding Space for Each Other When Memory Fails 99Alison Reiheld11 The Good Other 110Steven A. Benko12 Not Knowing Your Place: A Tale of Two Women 121Leslie A. AaronsPart V “Absurdity Needs to Be Confronted” 13113 Marginal Comforts Keep Us in Hell 133Jake Jackson14 “I Would Refuse to Be a God if It Were Offered to Me”: Architects and Existentialism in The Good Place 141Kimberly S. EngelsPart VI “Searching for Meaning Is Philosophical Suicide” 15315 Death, Meaning, and Existential Crises 155Kiki Berk16 From Indecision to Ambiguity: Simone de Beauvoir and Chidi’s Moral Growth 166Matthew P. Meyer17 Beyond Good and Evil Places: Eternal Return of the Superhuman 178James LawlerPart VII “The Dalai Lama Texted Me That” 18918 Conceptions of the Afterlife: The Good Place and Religious Tradition 191Michael McGowan19 Who Are Chidi and Eleanor in a Past-(After)Life? The Buddhist Notion of No-Self 202Dane SawyerPart VIII “Sometimes a Flaw Can Make Something Even More Beautiful” 21120 Hell Is Other People’s Tastes 213Darren Hudson Hick and Sarah E. Worth21 Why Everyone Hates Moral Philosophy Professors: The Aesthetics of Shallowness 224T Storm HeterPart IX “Oh Cool, More Philosophy! That Will Help Us.” 23722 An Epistemological Nightmare? Ways of Knowing in The Good Place 239Dean A. Kowalski23 What’s the Use of Free Will? 249Joshua Tepley24 From Clickwheel through Busty Alexa: The Embodied Case for Janet as Artificial Intelligence 260Robin L. Zebrowski25 Why It Wouldn’t Be Rational to Believe You’re in The Good Place (and Why You Wouldn’t Want to Be Anyway) 270David Kyle JohnsonIndex 283

KIMBERLY S. ENGELS is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Molloy College, Rockville Centre, New York. She is the author of numerous book chapters and peer-reviewed journal articles, and is the co-editor of Westworld and Philosophy.

Select Guide Rating

• Contributors ixEditor’s Introduction and Acknowledgments: “We Are Not in This Alone” xviiKimberly S. EngelsForeword xixMichael Schur, creator of The Good PlaceIntroduction xxiiiPamela Hieronymi and Todd May, philosophical advisors to The Good PlacePart I “I Just Ethics’d You in the Face” 11 How Do You Like Them Ethics? 3David Baggett and Marybeth Baggett2 Don’t Let the Good Life Pass You By: Doug Forcett and the Limits of Self-Sacrifice 15Greg Littmann3 Luck and Fairness in The Good Place 25Scott A. Davison and Andrew R. DavisonPart II “Virtuous for Virtue’s Sake” 354 Can Eleanor Really Become a Better Person? 37Eric J. Silverman and Zachary Swanson5 The Good Place and The Good Life 47C. Scott Sevier6 The Ethics of Indecision: Why Chidi Anagonye Belongs in The Bad Place 57Traci PhillipsonPart III “All Those Ethics Lessons Paid Off” 657 Moral Absurdity and Care Ethics in The Good Place 67Laura Matthews8 The Medium Place: Third Space, Morality, and Being In Between 75Catherine M. Robb9 What We May Learn from Michael’s Solution to the Trolley Problem 87Andreas BrunsPart IV “Help Is Other People” 9710 Some Memories You May Have Forgotten: Holding Space for Each Other When Memory Fails 99Alison Reiheld11 The Good Other 110Steven A. Benko12 Not Knowing Your Place: A Tale of Two Women 121Leslie A. AaronsPart V “Absurdity Needs to Be Confronted” 13113 Marginal Comforts Keep Us in Hell 133Jake Jackson14 “I Would Refuse to Be a God if It Were Offered to Me”: Architects and Existentialism in The Good Place 141Kimberly S. EngelsPart VI “Searching for Meaning Is Philosophical Suicide” 15315 Death, Meaning, and Existential Crises 155Kiki Berk16 From Indecision to Ambiguity: Simone de Beauvoir and Chidi’s Moral Growth 166Matthew P. Meyer17 Beyond Good and Evil Places: Eternal Return of the Superhuman 178James LawlerPart VII “The Dalai Lama Texted Me That” 18918 Conceptions of the Afterlife: The Good Place and Religious Tradition 191Michael McGowan19 Who Are Chidi and Eleanor in a Past-(After)Life? The Buddhist Notion of No-Self 202Dane SawyerPart VIII “Sometimes a Flaw Can Make Something Even More Beautiful” 21120 Hell Is Other People’s Tastes 213Darren Hudson Hick and Sarah E. Worth21 Why Everyone Hates Moral Philosophy Professors: The Aesthetics of Shallowness 224T Storm HeterPart IX “Oh Cool, More Philosophy! That Will Help Us.” 23722 An Epistemological Nightmare? Ways of Knowing in The Good Place 239Dean A. Kowalski23 What’s the Use of Free Will? 249Joshua Tepley24 From Clickwheel through Busty Alexa: The Embodied Case for Janet as Artificial Intelligence 260Robin L. Zebrowski25 Why It Wouldn’t Be Rational to Believe You’re in The Good Place (and Why You Wouldn’t Want to Be Anyway) 270David Kyle JohnsonIndex 283

KIMBERLY S. ENGELS is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Molloy College, Rockville Centre, New York. She is the author of numerous book chapters and peer-reviewed journal articles, and is the co-editor of Westworld and Philosophy.

Select Guide Rating

• Contributors ixEditor’s Introduction and Acknowledgments: “We Are Not in This Alone” xviiKimberly S. EngelsForeword xixMichael Schur, creator of The Good PlaceIntroduction xxiiiPamela Hieronymi and Todd May, philosophical advisors to The Good PlacePart I “I Just Ethics’d You in the Face” 11 How Do You Like Them Ethics? 3David Baggett and Marybeth Baggett2 Don’t Let the Good Life Pass You By: Doug Forcett and the Limits of Self-Sacrifice 15Greg Littmann3 Luck and Fairness in The Good Place 25Scott A. Davison and Andrew R. DavisonPart II “Virtuous for Virtue’s Sake” 354 Can Eleanor Really Become a Better Person? 37Eric J. Silverman and Zachary Swanson5 The Good Place and The Good Life 47C. Scott Sevier6 The Ethics of Indecision: Why Chidi Anagonye Belongs in The Bad Place 57Traci PhillipsonPart III “All Those Ethics Lessons Paid Off” 657 Moral Absurdity and Care Ethics in The Good Place 67Laura Matthews8 The Medium Place: Third Space, Morality, and Being In Between 75Catherine M. Robb9 What We May Learn from Michael’s Solution to the Trolley Problem 87Andreas BrunsPart IV “Help Is Other People” 9710 Some Memories You May Have Forgotten: Holding Space for Each Other When Memory Fails 99Alison Reiheld11 The Good Other 110Steven A. Benko12 Not Knowing Your Place: A Tale of Two Women 121Leslie A. AaronsPart V “Absurdity Needs to Be Confronted” 13113 Marginal Comforts Keep Us in Hell 133Jake Jackson14 “I Would Refuse to Be a God if It Were Offered to Me”: Architects and Existentialism in The Good Place 141Kimberly S. EngelsPart VI “Searching for Meaning Is Philosophical Suicide” 15315 Death, Meaning, and Existential Crises 155Kiki Berk16 From Indecision to Ambiguity: Simone de Beauvoir and Chidi’s Moral Growth 166Matthew P. Meyer17 Beyond Good and Evil Places: Eternal Return of the Superhuman 178James LawlerPart VII “The Dalai Lama Texted Me That” 18918 Conceptions of the Afterlife: The Good Place and Religious Tradition 191Michael McGowan19 Who Are Chidi and Eleanor in a Past-(After)Life? The Buddhist Notion of No-Self 202Dane SawyerPart VIII “Sometimes a Flaw Can Make Something Even More Beautiful” 21120 Hell Is Other People’s Tastes 213Darren Hudson Hick and Sarah E. Worth21 Why Everyone Hates Moral Philosophy Professors: The Aesthetics of Shallowness 224T Storm HeterPart IX “Oh Cool, More Philosophy! That Will Help Us.” 23722 An Epistemological Nightmare? Ways of Knowing in The Good Place 239Dean A. Kowalski23 What’s the Use of Free Will? 249Joshua Tepley24 From Clickwheel through Busty Alexa: The Embodied Case for Janet as Artificial Intelligence 260Robin L. Zebrowski25 Why It Wouldn’t Be Rational to Believe You’re in The Good Place (and Why You Wouldn’t Want to Be Anyway) 270David Kyle JohnsonIndex 283