pdf23ds comments on Open Thread: January 2010 - Less Wrong

5 Post author: Kaj_Sotala 01 January 2010 05:02PM

You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.

Comments (725)

You are viewing a single comment's thread. Show more comments above.

Comment author: pdf23ds 11 January 2010 12:17:31PM *  1 point [-]

I don't think that's quite the same usage of "moral luck". According to the technical term, it's when you, for example, judge someone who was driving drunk and hit a person more harshly than someone who was driving drunk and didn't hit anyone, all else being equal. In other words, things entirely outside of your control that make the same action more or less blameworthy. Another example, from the link:

For example, consider Nazi collaborators in 1930's Germany who are condemned for committing morally atrocious acts, even though their very presence in Nazi Germany was due to factors beyond their control (Nagel 1979). Had those very people been transferred by the companies for which they worked to Argentina in 1929, perhaps they would have led exemplary lives. If we correctly morally assess the Nazi collaborators differently from their imaginary counterparts in Argentina, then we have a case of circumstantial moral luck.

Comment author: komponisto 11 January 2010 01:23:39PM 0 points [-]

I don't see the difference between this usage and Zack's/Eliezer's: the definition given in the SEP link is:

Moral luck occurs when an agent can be correctly treated as an object of moral judgment despite the fact that a significant aspect of what she is assessed for depends on factors beyond her control.

A situation where all of an agent's options are blameworthy seems quite clearly to fall within this category.

Comment author: pdf23ds 12 January 2010 05:24:03AM 0 points [-]

OK, I suppose it counts as an instance, though I'm not convinced Eliezer intended the phrase in that sense. But it's certainly one of the instances I'm less interested in.

Comment author: thomblake 11 January 2010 09:35:43PM 0 points [-]

Agreed.