Moral Luck

The definition of Moral Luck is whether we can assign blame or praise to someone when external conditions outside that individuals control is determining what happens. One example that we talked about was the murder example. Is it fair that two people could try and kill another person, but one succeeded and one failed. The one that succeeds is given a harder punishment while the one that fails is given a lighter punishment. An example of moral luck in my life happened when I was younger in middle school. I have never cheated on a test in my life but this one time in a math class we had a test. The teacher left the room for several minutes and a bunch of boys including myself started talking. Several boys were sharing answers but I wasn't even tough I wanted to. I was however talking so when the teacher looked through the door she thought that I was cheating along with the other students. Three of us failed and were sent to the assistant principals office. I was later acquitted of the charges but I was originally morally unlucky because I was sitting next to those students who were cheating. The seats in the class were assigned so where I sat was out of my hands.

I believe that moral luck is not a serious ethical issue. Two kids can be born into poverty and one could become a very successful person while the other one could become a criminal. What makes them different is their own drive. You have control over yourself. Some people are born luckier than others due to family conditions and financial circumstances but that doesn't mean that the person who is born to a bad situation can't make it in life.