ABSTRACT
The conventional view is that some human goods are just matters of good luck and likewise, certain evils are just matters of misfortune. The conventional assumption is that there is a certain area of life where the goods and evils one bears are not matters of justice and injustice, but of happenstance. The goods include not only experiences and enjoyments but also the having and exercise of various talents and abilities, the receipt of recognitions and rewards, successes, employments, opportunities. It is tempting to say that wherever a person has a good he has an advantage and when he suffers an evil he is, in that respect, disadvantaged. However this usage can make it look as if all human goods and evils are subject matter for distributive justice. It is sometimes objected against proposed principles of morality or justice that they are outrageous because they place the burden of all mankind on the back of the morally conscientious individual.
