“The Good Place,” an NBC television comedy series that often employs philosophical themes and jokes, just concluded its third season and has been renewed for a fourth. In June 2017, APA blog editor Skye Cleary interviewed Clemson University philosopher Todd May about his consulting for the show. Since then, May has not only continued his philosophical consulting role but also starred in “Mother Forkin’ Morals,” a series of online videos about philosophy and “The Good Place.” (See videos below.) I talked to him via email about what it was like to do public philosophy via online comedy shorts.
DJ: Who came up with the idea of online video snippets about philosophical issues tied to “The Good Place”? And why did you say yes?
TM: It wasn’t an initiative from “The Good Place” itself, but rather from NBC’s team on digital content. The idea was to create some videos that would supplement the show with a bit more philosophical content—basically stuff that wouldn’t fit well into the context of a sit-com episode. The team pitched it to show creator Mike Schur and producer Morgan Sackett, who thought it would be a good idea.
Why did I join? Honestly, who wouldn’t take an opportunity like that? It just sounded like a whole lot of fun, which it was.
What was it like to work with the production crew and cartoonists to communicate philosophy? How did it compare with your consulting for the show?
This was a completely different experience from the consulting. In my consulting I am usually on Skype or email with Mike Schur, and once visited the writers’ room at Universal Studios in Los Angeles. (I will visit again in a few weeks as they think about their fourth season.) Generally, Mike tells me what ideas they’re interested in, I give a sketch of them, and very occasionally we talk a bit about how they might appear on the show, although the bulk of that last part is done by the writers themselves before and after our discussions. A good thing, too—I’m not terribly creative.
What I thought was going to happen with the videos was that I would show up in a room with an interviewer and a camera person and just talk. My mistake. I arrived on the set and there were probably a dozen people there: the interviewer Paul Buckley, several camera people, production managers and assistants, interns, and a makeup person. There was a bunch of prep and then Paul interviewed me for about three hours. Afterwards, he edited the interviews and spliced in the cartoons and scenes from the show. In addition to being delightful to work with, Paul and his group did a wonderful job with the videos. I saw the raw footage before he added the cartoons, etc., and it was nothing like what eventually appeared.
Why did you focus specifically on ethical theories?
The show really emerged from Mike Schur’s asking himself the question of what it was to be a good person. In the course of discussions with Pamela Hieronymi from UCLA, then me, and probably others as well, he kept that question in mind. So naturally he would sooner or later run into different ethical theories. I talked mostly about them in order to keep the focus on the driving question behind the show.
Have you received any feedback about them?
Well, my wife likes them.
Do you plan to do more?
Paul Buckley and I have discussed doing another set and have floated some possible themes for videos. We might do a few more for the hiatus of the show during the next season.
What do you think of the format of viral videos as a way of doing public philosophy?
Just to be clear, my understanding is that for a video really to be viral, it needs more than a million views. I would call the number of views gratifying but not really viral. (But one can dream, no?) Having said that, I think they’re a great way to do public philosophy, particular in tandem with a show that non-philosophers are watching. This is a way to reach people who would ordinarily have nothing to do with traditional philosophical thought, and less than nothing to do with philosophical texts.
Are there other philosophy videos that you’ve seen that you would recommend? And how do your videos compare with those?
There are currently a number of forums where philosophy is being done in a public way: the podcast Philosophy Bites, the New York Times blog The Stone, and others. As for videos, a while back Daily Nous compiled a list of the most popular philosophy videos.
What is different about “The Good Place” videos, aside from the fact that they are short, is that they’re directed more widely to an audience with no philosophy background and probably no antecedent interest in philosophical questions. So they need to be as entertaining as they are enlightening.
Todd May is the Class of 1941 Memorial Professor of the Humanities at Clemson University. He specializes in Anglo-American ethics and Continental philosophy and is the author of 15 philosophical books, including the forthcoming A Decent Life: Morality for the Rest of Us.
