I recently finished watching The Good Place while I was off work. This is a light comedy. The general background is that the heroine Eleanor found herself in the good place after her death, but she was not a good person at all when she was alive. , So she decided to do her best to become a good person here, and for her other three protagonists, the whole story unfolds based on the life of these four protagonists after their death, their secrets and their journey after death.
This drama attracted me mainly because it was easy and not brain-burning, and it showed the thinking about philosophy in a very popular and humorous way, which attracted me (Curiously Philosophy Xiaobai) to keep watching. In addition to the general plot background, the reason why this is a unique light comedy is that I also heard that this is a TV series that invited two philosophical consultants:
Next, let’s share some very good philosophical thoughts after watching this drama.
1. The trolly problem-Utilitarianism vs. Voluntary Wheel:
One of the highlights of this show is that the famous train switch experiment that will be known to many people was actually filmed. The trolly problem is a thought experiment proposed by Scottish philosopher Philipa Foot, roughly as follows:
Suppose a train is traveling at a high speed on a track. At this time, there is a fork in the track not far ahead. There are five people on the track going straight. If the tram continues to run, the lives of these five people will be ended. The spare track on the right There is a person on it. If you decide to intervene and press the switch of the tram, the tram can turn to the right track with a person tied to it. Do you choose to sacrifice one person's life and save all five people?
This topic has since evolved in many forms: For example, if the person on the backup tram is your friend, how would you choose? and many more.
Through the deduction of this scene, I have learned some of the different disputes on this issue, and thus continue to explain the difference between utilitarianism and deontology, that is, when we do things, we should consider the results of things. Or consider the willingness to do this thing itself?
For a utiliitarian, the consequences of things may be very important to him, so he will choose to say, I want to save the lives of five people, so I choose to press the switch, but in order to achieve this result, sacrifice one person's life.
For those on duty, everyone has equal rights. One person on one railroad track and five people on another railroad track have equal rights. When the decision maker made the decision to intervene in this matter, he decided to kill a person. Because the end of the life of the original five people has nothing to do with us. In order not to kill, the obligee may choose not to intervene.
The good place shows this with the classic tram experiment and its derivative problems, which is very interesting.
2. Since no one has been in heaven for 500 years-the result will not change anymore, so why do good deeds?
Another setting of The good place is the scoring system, the original setting, after the person is over, the universe scoring system will review a person’s life, and people are judged to enter the good place or bad place based on the score.
For example, if you pick a prosperous flower on the side of the road, you will get five points deducted. If you go to a nursing home to participate as a volunteer, you may add ten points. The importance of good deeds and evil deeds determines the level of points.
In the play, a portrait of a mortal is hung in the office of the architect of Good place. This is the only person in the world who guessed the scoring system after eating the magic mushroom.
However, in heaven, no one has been able to enter The good place for five hundred years. Why?
For example, a mortal who has guessed the scoring system because of eating fantasy mushrooms and has since followed the scoring system will try to eat vegetation food that is not harmful to the environment, and eat all the crops produced in the orchard. However, this action does not necessarily allow This mortal gets a positive score in this system because he may have eaten vegetation grown by irrigating toxic pesticides, and then he usually uses a smartphone produced in a sweatshop to order a vegan takeaway. The takeaway driver drove it. The CEO of this food delivery company is a person with a bad record of sexual harassment. How do you judge the morality of such an act?
What this plot wants to reveal is that in an increasingly highly modernized society, each of our behaviors is full of complexity, and we can no longer use the so-called single standard to measure whether the behavior of others is moral.
3.Free willing vs Determinism
(To be continued)
Later, I will continue to record some thoughts after watching this show
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