Café Inquiry (Online) – Moral Luck

This event is held online. (Click the button to join the Zoom meeting.)

Adam is driving home in a hurry. He comes to an intersection just as the light turns red and runs the light. He is pulled over and given a ticket for a moving violation with a $100 fine.  Amy is also driving home in a hurry. She comes to an intersection just as the light turns red and runs the light. As she crosses the intersection a woman steps into the crosswalk, is struck by Amy’s car and is killed. Amy is arrested and charged with vehicular manslaughter, tried and sentenced to prison.

The above is an example of something called resultant moral luck – the same actions leading to different outcomes based on circumstances beyond the control of those performing those actions. Resultant moral luck is one of 4 types of moral luck identified by Thomas Nagel, the others being circumstantial, constitutive and causal. Join us as we discuss the moral and ethical implications of the various types of moral luck and the ways our intuition as to how much moral blame or praise should be assigned often comes into conflict with the principle that blame or praise should be based only on circumstances under one’s control (control principle).  Here are some links to material relevant to the topic. This 6-minute video gives a brief, understandable summary of moral luck, as does this short essay. This slightly longer essay (about an 8 minute read) looks at the topic in a bit more depth, and has some imbedded video links that help illustrate the points being made.  This should provide a lot of thought-provoking conversation!

Café Inquiry starts with a short introduction of the day’s topic, followed by casual discussion.

This event is free and open to the public. Donations appreciated, but not expected.

Attendees are able to future propose topics which would align with Michigan Humanist’s purpose: from atheism, agnosticism, humanism, secularism, and freethinking to broader subjects in science and humanities, such as religion, philosophy, social issues, politics, evolution, morality, ethics, and psychology.

Café Inquiry (Grand Rapids) meets each month on the second and fourth Sunday.

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Michigan Humanists values the participation of all guests — requests for reasonable accommodation may be made by contacting the event host at least three days prior to the event.

Michigan Humanists expects all guests to engage in respectful discussion. Critiques on views and claims based on merit are allowed, but not attacks on individuals who hold other perspectives.

Any person engaging in disruptive behavior or harassment will be asked to leave, and may be banned from future events pending the severity of the action. Please speak to the event host or contact info@michiganhumanists.org if you feel these expectations are being violated.