How To Be Perfect: The Correct Answer To Every Moral Question – Michael Schur

Back in the fall of 2016, a new comedy, starring Ted Danson and Kristen Bell, debuted on NBC.  This show, created by Michael Schur, tackled the afterlife and how living a “good” life was sometimes easier said than done.  In The Good Place, characters received points for every good deed they did and lost points for selfish or bad deeds throughout their life, and the resulting total would determine if they made it into the Good Place or the Bad Place.  Before writing the show, creator Michael Schur needed to take his own dive into moral philosophy in order to give the show the heft it needed to become a success.

In How To Be Perfect, Schur shares what he’s learned from philosophers like Immanuel Kant, Aristotle, Albert Camus, and Jean-Paul Sartre, amongst others, in a much more entertaining way than the original texts.  He goes deep into the Trolley Problem, which featured heavily in the show, and how the different philosophies treat it differently, and moves from easy ethical questions like “Should I punch my friend in the face for no reason?” to the more complex moral issues we face every day, like “Can I still enjoy great art if it was created by terrible people?” and “How much money should I give to charity?”  He also goes in to the importance of not just finding the answer (of course you shouldn’t punch your friend in the face) but also why.

In my younger days, my retirement plan, after I won the lottery, was to return to college and study philosophy.  Now that I’ve read this book, there’s really no reason to do so anymore.  I’ve already had my education.  And, you know, haven’t won the lottery.