moral luck

Moral Luck

 

Damon Land

Moral luck is basically when blame or punishment is placed on someone based on something they cannot control. An example of this in my life would be of me texting on my cell phone while driving. A cop sees me, and I’m pulled over, and ticketed. However, I could have been texting on my phone, accidently hit a pedestrian, killing them, and then being charged for vehicular manslaughter. I’m lucky in the sense that though my intensions were the same (in texting while driving), I only dealt with the consequences of a ticket, instead of vehicular manslaughter.

I do believe that moral luck is a serious ethical problem because a person can be punished on things they haven’t done. An example of this would be an attempted murder. Without knowing a person’s true intentions, how can an attempted murderer be punished? Should they be punished as a murderer, or not punished at all, since no crime was committed, or somewhere in the middle?

I also personally believe that moral luck is a problem because it is basically either punishing someone for praised for something they have no control over. If someone is born with athletic capabilities, why should they be praised over someone without athletic capabilities? This form of moral luck (circumstantial), shows that people do not have control over every aspect of their life. Another example is if someone is born into a poor nation. While people can make the best out of their situations, it does not change the fact that someone born into riches will be treated better than someone born into slums, yet both people had no control of where they were born.