Living with Luck

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

Some people are beneficiaries of good luck (think: winning the lottery). Others are victims of bad luck (like being struck by lightning). Luck turns out to be a surprisingly important concept; one that has crept its way into all sorts of debates across theoretical, moral, and political philosophy. Luck has, for example, been thought to make all the difference between achievements and mere flukes, or between knowledge and true belief. Considerations of luck also raise some difficult questions about blameworthiness. (If you and I make the same choice, but only my choice harms someone due to bad luck, then does this make me more blameworthy than you?) And luck figures in some important questions about social justice as well. (Should social policies pay special attention to those who are worse-off due to bad luck, as opposed to those who are worse-off due to bad choices?) ‘Living with Luck’ tackles thorny questions such as these. The course also investigates the role of luck in various sorts of markets, and the way in which our attitudes towards luck can shape our politics, and our wider outlook on life.