Question

In your own words, explain: 1) What is moral luck? 2) What does Williams mean when he says that the term “moral luck” is an oxymoron?

Answer 1

Moral luck:

Luck affects the moral worth of a person because the acceptance of the outcomes of any action depends on the good or bad luck of a person. The ethics and morality are thus influenced by the luck in life based on which the actions are assessed. Hence, the morality is an institution based upon luck. This is known as the moral luck which justifies and evaluates a person's actions.

Moral luck is an oxymoron:

According to Williams, the moral luck of a person is an oxymoron because the rightfulness or the wrongness of the action is not under a person's control. But at the same time whether the outcome is accepted or not depend on the luck of that person. This is because even the most positive outcomes are sometimes not accepted due to the bad luck of a person.