Moral Luck
Moral luck is a term used by Nagel to describe the external factors beyond our control, which act upon moral decisions we make. Nagel's opinion is that people make moral decisions that may have good or bad intentions, but because of moral luck the outcome may be contrary to what he/she intended. Moral luck can be constitutive, the kind of person that someone is. Some people are born with certain characteristics, which enable them to be more virtuous then others. Others are born with a nasty streak of envy or jealousy, which makes it that much harder for them to make moral decisions. Another type of moral luck is one's circumstances. People are faced with different types of situations and problems, and certain situations make is easier to make the right moral decision. Nagel also describes two types of consequential lucks. One type is antecedent, in which certain consequences took place before the moral act and influence the moral decision to be made. The other type o!f consequential luck is the way actions and decisions
The student, who had every intention to cheat no finds himself unable to look at anyone's paper and must take the test on his own. Upon calling the local hospitals she is told that she must first have a physical examination by her doctor to ensure that she is not bring any germs or disease into the hospital. Moral luck has acted upon them, and prevented them from doing these wonderfully moral acts. Is she still to be judged as morally worthy? What about the people, who are not born with this predisposed nature to do such charitable acts? There are people who are born with a fear of hospitals, or fear of people, or just plain selfishness. and even if the greatest effort should not avail it to achieve anything. as something that had its full worth in itself. We can only judge to a certain degree since as humans we do not have the capacity to know people's intentions nor can we know the future to determine ------------------------------------------------------------------------**Bibliography**. If moral luck were to act on people Kant would judge this person by what his original intentions were. These factors will determine whether a moral act turns out to be found moral by others or by oneself. Only the actual intentions or will of the person is relevant. " Consequences of actions are not important to a Kantian. This does not take into account moral luck.
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