Interpersonal Moral Luck and Normative Entanglement

Ergo: An Open Access Journal of Philosophy 6:601-616 (2019)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

I introduce an underdiscussed type of moral luck, which I call interpersonal moral luck. Interpersonal moral luck characteristically occurs when the actions of other moral agents, qua morally evaluable actions, affect an agent’s moral status in a way that is outside of that agent’s capacity to control. I suggest that interpersonal moral luck is common in collective contexts involving shared responsibility and has interesting distinctive features. I also suggest that many philosophers are already committed to its existence. I then argue that agents who are susceptible to interpersonal moral luck are usually for this reason defeasibly entitled to make demands of those agents who are the source of that luck. This is the phenomenon of normative entanglement. I conclude by discussing some of the important ways in which normative entanglement can shape the norms that govern the actions of agents in collective contexts as well as explain some of our intuitions about what participants in these contexts owe one another.

Similar books and articles

„Moral Luck“ in Moral und Recht.Lisa Herzog & Thomas Wischmeyer - 2013 - Archiv für Rechts- und Sozialphilosophie 99 (2):212-227.
A problem for moral luck.Steven D. Hales - 2015 - Philosophical Studies 172 (9):2385-2403.
„Moral Luck“ in Moral und Recht.Lisa Herzog & Thomas Wischmeyer - 2013 - Archiv für Rechts- und Sozialphilosophie 99 (2):212-227.
There is no Moral Luck.Julian Nida-Rümelin - 2007 - Archiv für Rechts- und Sozialphilosophie 93 (2):167-177.
Getting Moral Luck Right.Lee John Whittington - 2014 - Metaphilosophy 45 (4-5):654-667.
Moral luck in Thomas Hardy's fiction.Chengping Zhang - 2010 - Philosophy and Literature 34 (1):pp. 82-94.
Moral Luck and Business Ethics.Christopher Michaelson - 2008 - Journal of Business Ethics 83 (4):773-787.
Awareness Luck.Heather J. Gert - 2018 - Philosophia 46 (1):131-140.
Moral Luck Defended.Nathan Hanna - 2014 - Noûs 48 (4):683-698.
Moral luck and the law.David Enoch - 2010 - Philosophy Compass 5 (1):42-54.

Analytics

Added to PP
2019-09-27

Downloads
334 (#58,326)

6 months
80 (#54,001)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Daniel Story
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

Citations of this work

Fortunately Forgiven.Daniel Telech - forthcoming - Oxford Studies in Normative Ethics.
Moral Principles: A Challenge for Deniers of Moral Luck.Anna Nyman - forthcoming - Ergo: An Open Access Journal of Philosophy.
Against resultant moral luck.Huzeyfe Demirtas - 2022 - Ratio 35 (3):225-235.
Moral luck in team‐based health care.Daniel Story & Catelynn Kenner - 2021 - Nursing Philosophy 22 (1):e12328.

Add more citations

References found in this work

The View From Nowhere.Thomas Nagel - 1986 - New York: Oxford University Press.
Mortal questions.Thomas Nagel - 1979 - New York: Cambridge University Press.
Group agency: the possibility, design, and status of corporate agents.Christian List & Philip Pettit - 2011 - New York: Oxford University Press. Edited by Philip Pettit.
Shaping the Normative Landscape.David Owens - 2012 - Oxford, GB: Oxford University Press.

View all 23 references / Add more references