Moral luck describes a circumstance in which a moral agent is assigned blame or praise for an action or its consequences even though it is clear the agent did not have full control over the action or its outcome. The philosopher Bernard Williams introduced the term, and its significance for a coherent moral theory was developed further by Williams and the philosopher Thomas Nagel in their own respective essays on the subject.
Facts
Core ClaimMoral 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. 1 First Described Year Classification
Type of Phenomenon Connections
In Branch
Source Wikipedia: Moral Luck
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Moral Luck
Wikimedia FoundationLead paragraph
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.
Four types of moral luck section
Nagel (1976) identified four kinds of moral luck in his essay.
lead section, phenomenon-kind classification
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.
In Branch: Moral Psychology, Categories
Wikipedia article 'Moral luck' is filed under Category:Moral psychology.
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