Moral Luck

A detailed Summary of Moral Luck

Moral luck is a term used by Nagel to describe the external factors beyond our control, which act upon moral decisions we make. Nagel's opinion is that people make moral decisions that may have good or bad intentions, but because of moral luck the outcome may be contrary to what he/she intended. Moral luck can be constitutive, the kind of person that someone is. Some people are born with certain characteristics, which enable them to be more virtuous then others. Others are born with a nasty streak of envy or jealousy, which makes it that much harder for them to make moral decisions. Another type of moral luck is one's circumstances. People are faced with different types of situations and problems, and certain situations make is easier to make the right moral decision. Nagel also describes two types of consequential lucks. One type is antecedent, in which certain consequences took place before the moral act and influence the moral decision to be made. The other type o!

f consequential luck is the way actions and decisions

A student may decide that he will not study for a specific exam because he intends to cheat off his neighbor's paper. However, upon arriving to class he finds that all the seats but one in the front of the classroom are taken. The student, who had every intention to cheat no finds himself unable to look at anyone's paper and must take the test on his own. This is an example of moral luck. According to Kant the student should be judged as having committed a moral wrong because Kant believes that moral acts must be judged on good or bad will. The student definitely had bad will in this case, however any Consequentalist would say the consequences have shown that no wrong was committed.

A Kantian moral outlook appears to deny the relevance of moral luck because Kant judges actions on the will alone. "Even if it should happen that, by a particular unfortunate fate....and even if the greatest effort should not avail it to achieve anything...as something that had its full worth in itself." Consequences of actions are not important to a Kantian. Only the actual

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Approximate Word count = 723
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History

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Moral Luck

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