The Good Place and T.M. Scanlon: a musing

The show doesn’t pull this idea from thin air. It’s anchored in a real book: What We Owe to Each Other by T.M. Scanlon. Not a beach read, unless your beach is full of ethics professors...

Let me tell you a story.

It starts not in heaven or hell, but in a white void. A woman named Eleanor Shellstrop wakes up, is told she’s dead, and that she’s in The Good Place. She’s relieved, flattered even—until she realises there’s been a mistake. She’s not a good person. Not even close.

But instead of eternal torment, she’s given a chance to learn.

And …