Overview

Moral luck describes circumstances whereby a moral agent is assigned moral blame or praise for an action or its consequences even if it is clear that said agent did not have full control over either the action or its consequences.

Core Idea

The core idea challenges the intuition that we should only be judged for what we control. In reality, luck plays a huge role in our moral standing.

Formal Definition

Moral luck occurs when an agent can be correctly treated as an object of moral judgment despite the fact that a significant aspect of what they are assessed for depends on factors beyond their control.

Intuition

  • The Drunk Drivers: Two people get drunk and drive home.
    • Driver A makes it home safely. We call him “reckless.”
    • Driver B hits a child who ran into the street. We call him a “manslaughterer” and send him to prison for years.
    • The only difference was luck (the child running out), yet the moral judgment and punishment are vastly different.

Examples

  • Resultant Luck: Luck in the way things turn out (e.g., the drunk driver).
  • Circumstantial Luck: Luck in the circumstances you face. (e.g., A Nazi guard might have been a gentle accountant if he had lived in 2020s Canada. Is he “evil” or just unlucky to be in 1940s Germany?).
  • Constitutive Luck: Luck in who you are (genes, upbringing, temperament).

Common Misconceptions

  • Misconception: It means morality is random.
    • Correction: It means our judgments are influenced by random factors, which is a problem for moral theory.
  • Misconception: We can eliminate it.
    • Correction: Thomas Nagel argues that if we strip away everything due to luck, the “moral self” shrinks to a vanishing point.
  • Control Principle: The idea that we are only responsible for what we control.
  • Determinism: If everything is determined, is all morality just luck?
  • Just World Hypothesis: The psychological bias to believe good things happen to good people (denying luck).

Applications

  • Law: Distinguishing between attempted murder and murder (same intent, different outcome due to luck).
  • Humility: Recognizing that “there but for the grace of God go I.”

Criticism and Limitations

  • Incoherence: Some argue moral luck is a contradiction in terms. If it’s luck, it’s not moral; if it’s moral, it’s not luck.
  • Reform: Some argue we should judge only on intent, not outcome, to eliminate luck (but this is hard to do in practice).

Further Reading

  • Moral Luck by Thomas Nagel
  • Moral Luck by Bernard Williams