Question

After reading Nagel's essay "Moral Luck",

1) What is one of Nagel's examples of moral luck?

2) What are the four types of moral luck?

3) To what extent are individuals' successes and failures due to some kind of luck? What would Nagel say, and what are your own views on this?

Answer 1

1. Moral luck is something which is related with our action. That action can be performed with a bad intention but the consequences may contain flavour of morality. This is a moral luck in simple language. Sometimes we perform an action without having a control on it.

If it brings good consequences for us and other people then it can be considered as a moral luck. It is a topic of controversy also. Suppose there is a person who tries to murder someone and if he fails then his failure would be called as moral luck or not?

He has not murdered someone despite his try but there is a luck factor which can save him from capital punishment because there are different different perspectives for complete murder and attempt to murder. Moral luck depends on our own perception, situational circumstances, knowledge, bend of mind, nature, nurture, past experiences and sensitivity.

2. There are four type of luck. These are as following:-

a. Constitutive Luck:- It talks about our genes and other factors which have been incorporated in our personality. Suppose if someone has fear of heights due to some genetic factors which are not in his control then it will be our constitutive luck that we are not having such genes.

b. Resultant luck:- This talks about the ways in which various things turned out for us. Suppose there are two person and they have not checked their car brakes before going somewhere. One person reaches his destination without any accident while another person meets with a running child on road and causes accident. The first person will be called as having resultant luck.

c. Circumstantial luck:- This is related with circumstances which remains outside of our control. Nazi soldiers are condemned for their atrocities. People captured in their camps were forced to follow those cruelties because of circumstantial luck.

d. Casual luck:- If a child take birth in an affluent family then it can be considered as an example of casual luck. Taking birth according to the family condition is not in our control. It is only a matter of luck.

3. Luck may favor us for a fixed period of time. Our own caliber and strengths determine the path of our own success. We have seen people born with so much parental money but all the money got vanished due to improper management.

Our own efforts and tries determines the success rate. We can not imagine success just by sitting idol and fully dependent on luck. Luck only favors those people who make efforts with their level best efficiencies.