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Four lenses to ethical decision making
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Four lenses to ethical decision making
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The Outcome of Outcome Based Luck According to Thomas Nagel’s revolutionary, yet problematic theory, a person can never truly be responsible for anything. The philosopher theorizes that there is a force outside our own self-control that can influence our ethical standings. These forces are referred to as moral luck. In Nagel’s eyes, there are four different types of moral luck: constitutive luck, luck in one’s circumstances, luck in how one is determined by antecedent circumstances and luck in the way things turn out. One of the most problematic aspects of Nagel’s theory is the concept of luck in the way things turn out. The existence of this luck is extremely problematic due to the fact that while there are flaws in its construction (concerning the concept of knowing and responsibility), to deny the way things turn out luck would be impractical for societal constructs and would leave nothing left to make ethical judgments about. Outcome based ethical reasoning is flawed epistemically. How do we make a moral judgment on an action if we never find out the result of it? “In many cases of difficult choice the outcome cannot be foreseen with certainty. One kind of assessment of the choice is possible in advance, but another kind must await the outcome, because the outcome determines what has been done” (Kant). There is a drunk driver who swerves off of the road. There is a pedestrian unfortunately in his path and he hits him. Someone watching runs to the person’s aid as the drunk driver drives away. That person is morally wrong because they hit a person due to their negligence. However, their moral worth would be more so defined by whether or not the person ultimately survives the incident. There is a 50/50 chance that this person... ... middle of paper ... ...d on the concept. One of Nagel’s most problematic faults in this concept, however, is the removal of self-responsibility. If we are only morally responsible for the outcomes of our actions and our outcomes are morally dictated by external factors, than how can we ever be responsible for anything? Thomas Nagel’s concepts are as freeing as they are disabling. The outcome of outcome based luck is this: it explains subjective ethical issues while it poses grander ethical problems in its replacement. Bibliography Kant, Immanuel. "Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals." n.d. Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals. 1 May 2014 . Nagel, Thomas. "Moral Luck." n.d. Nagel Moral Luck. 1 May 2014 .