Is Moral Luck a Problem?

Tonishia Signore

Moral luck is a concept which is based on whether or not external conditions which are outside of a person’s control can increase or decrease the blame or praise a person receives in a given situation. A personal example of moral luck goes back to my senior year in high school, when the majority of our graduating class was playing a game called “Assassins”. In this game you create teams and each team has one person the other teams are after, and you must protect that person. The game is organized with water guns and played strictly out of school. One night a couple days into “Assassins” the game was in full swing, teams were hunting people down at their jobs, sporting events, and homes (parents were of course aware of participation). We were all speeding in our cars, full of excitement taking all the lesser known back roads in town. It was springtime and the roads were slightly slick with earlier rain, and covered in small buds from trees. One of the teams was in a new car and was speeding down the same road many of us traveled that very same night. However this car lost control, for whatever reason, and wrapped around a tree. Three of the four boys were injured, and one passed away. The fact that we were all playing the same game, committing the same actions, and taking the same risks, brings moral luck into play. Who’s to say it shouldn't have been the car I was in or any one of the other dozens of cars. It was a tragic and heart-wrenching example of bad luck. It could have been anyone.

Although moral luck can play a large role in our lives, I do not believe it is a serious ethical problem. I know this because problems have a possibility of being prevented, or stopped and moral luck does not. Moral luck is less of an ethical “problem” and more of an unwavering element of life. All we can do as people is be in full control and consciousness of our actions and put thought behind our behavior. Sometimes it will be enough, and sometimes it will not. There can be different plans than what we have in mind and a much bigger power controlling the outcomes. Moral luck is not a problem because it’s an unstoppable and constant force of nature.