ABSTRACT
One is beholden to moral luck if, due to forces and situations outside of one's control, one might have lacked ren (true goodness), or might have been a junzi (superior person), or even might have been a murderer. For example, a kind person with a kind family might have had a very different ethical character had the person been bought up in a cruel family that advocated for a hateful ideology. One has moral luck if one is the last person to get into an inspiring ethics course that helps to change one's character for the better. One's moral fortitude may wax and wane on a daily or even hourly basis, and it is a matter of luck whether one is morally tested during the waxing or waning periods (e.g., one might be more morally sensitive after that daily first cup of coffee). Moral luck is also, I believe, a central concept in the moral and political philosophies of Confucius and Aristotle, philosophies which are golden means between the extremes of (i) the deficiency of moral luck required by Kant and (ii) the excessive moral luck required by classical utilitarianism. 1 1
