Ethics (part 1)
Chidi: Well that’s what’s so great about The Trolley Problem – is that there is no right answer.
Eleanor: Aargh!
Michael: This is why everyone hates moral philosophy professors.
(Season 2, episode 5)
Ethics is a foundational theme of The Good Place, and many moral philosophers are mentioned in the show: Aristotle, Plato, Kant, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Descartes, Thomas Aquinas, Scanlon, Sartre, Hume and others (see this reddit thread for more). There are also references to The Trolley Problem, Utilitarianism, Contractualism, Deontology, the ethics of lying and murder (of Janet (not a robot)) and various moral dilemmas.
As a professor of moral philosophy, Chidi constantly questions himself about the right thing to do in each situation, and usually just ends up with a stomach ache. His 3600 page treatise with title beginning, “Who We Are and Who We Are Not: Practical Ethics and Their Application in the Modern World; a Treatise on the ...” is unreadable:
Michael: I can read the entirety of the world’s literature in about an hour.
This took me two weeks to get through.
I mean, it’s so convoluted, I just kept reading the same paragraph over and over again, trying to figure out what the heck you were saying.
Chidi: Oh no.
Michael: I mean, on page 1000, you start section two with the sentence, “Of course, the exact opposite might be true.” You’re a brilliant guy, Chidi.
But you just kept revising and rewriting and adding words to your title.
I think you just twisted yourself up into a knot.
(Season 1, episode 3)
Clearly ethics can be a complicated subject.
A previous post asserted that from a Christian viewpoint, good actions are ones motivated by love for God and people (including love towards yourself). However, that doesn’t necessarily make ethical decisions simple and obvious; it is still necessary to ask what love looks like in a particular situation, which can have more than one answer.
There is a potential stumbling block, however. Jesus really was perfect: he loved his enemies to the point of dying for them; he never had an unkind or impure thought in his life; and he always did God’s will without a step wrong. Comparing our own lives to his perfection could leave someone feeling like they are constantly failing and never good enough.
The answer to that is grace. God accepts you where you are, and delights in you as his child. If you think of love as maturity – something you are growing into – it’s OK to start in an immature state and take small steps towards the person God created you to be.
Jesus said some pretty extreme things sometimes. As well as “love your enemies and do good to those who hate you,” he said, “do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also,” and “give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.”
Which may sound like terrible news for someone with an abusive background and poor boundaries. But the key is that love is always voluntary, not a list of rules to follow. If someone asks for my wallet, along with my house and car, I have the freedom to show love to myself (and my family) by saying no. Even if I can afford the money, I have the right to say no to a gambling addict, which may be the most loving thing to do under the circumstances.
As described in a previous post, Christians are not under the Law. There are still commands in the New Testament, but they are no longer in the realm of “do this or else” – more like “this is how you can express the new life God has given you.” An example is giving. Under the Law you had to tithe a portion of your income. In the New Testament it says, “Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
The New Testament includes letters from Paul to various churches. It has been pointed out that he often spends the first half of each letter reminding the recipients who they are, how much God values them and what they are looking forward to in eternity. With that foundation in place, he goes on to correct any problems and give instructions about how to live in a godly way. For a Christian, how you live is strongly connected to your identity and how God sees you; it is an upward call that appeals to the new life God has given you, rather than just focusing on what you should and shouldn’t be doing.
Behaving in an ethical way is clearly a good thing, but where do you get the motivation to do it? If the God who created everything and knows everything says that you are beautiful, you are a reflection of his Son, you are being renewed and transformed daily into the Christlike person you were created to be, and he delights in you as his precious child – that’ a big motivation.
Next: Ethics (part 2) – some Christian motivations for actions.
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