Why Two Recent Attempts to Rescue Constitutive Luck Do Not Work
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3384/de-ethica.2001-8819.25845Keywords:
constitutive luck, modal luck, control luck, chancy luck, luck, moral luck, regress argument, luck egalitarianismAbstract
According to Rescher, luck is chancy, but constitution is not, and so constitutive luck is a contradiction in terms.
In this paper, I look at two recent attempts to controvert this argument. According to the first, constitution is not
chancy, but neither is moral luck, because moral luck is not a species of luck. According to the second, moral luck
is chancy, but constitution is too, because the comparative class is not the agent herself but rather the population
at large. I argue that neither of these attempts is successful. I begin by explaining the importance of constitutive
luck.
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