Abstract

In The Good Place, Chidi Anogonye has difficulty making decisions. In fact, that may be his defining characteristic, and it is the one that ultimately led to his demise on Earth. The belief in “fundamental truths” entails a belief in “objective values,” that is, values that exist outside of the frame of human thinking. Simone de Beauvoir calls such a belief “the spirit of seriousness”. Beauvoir also makes a distinction between absurdity—that which has no meaning—and ambiguity—that which has no fixed meaning. Chidi follows one of Beauvoir's favorite principles of existentialism: “Do what one must, come what may”. In order to understand both Chidi's and Beauvoir's meaning of “must” we have to move away from an understanding of right and wrong as existing in the world, independent of human thought and assessment.