Luck in Aristotle's Physics and Ethics

In Devin Henry & Karen Margrethe Nielsen, Bridging the Gap Between Aristotle's Science and Ethics. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. pp. 254-275 (2015)
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Abstract

I discuss how Aristotle’s formulation of the problem of moral luck relates to his natural philosophy. I review well-known passages from Nicomachean Ethics I/X and Eudemian Ethics I/VII and Physics II, but in the main focus on EE VII 14 (= VIII 2). I argue that Aristotle’s position there (rejecting the elimination of luck, but reducing luck so far as possible to incidental natural and intelligent causes) is not only consistent with his treatment of luck in Physics II, but is to be expected, given that the dialectical path of EE VII 14 runs exactly parallel to that of Physics II 4-6. Although Aristotle resolves some issues that he raises, he cannot avoid the problem of constitutive moral luck that, as Thomas Nagel puts it, pertains to ‘the kind of person you are, where this is not just a question of what you deliberately do, but of your inclinations, capacities, and temperament’. The problem for Aristotle follows not only from his ethical positions, but also directly from his more general physical and political principles and assumptions. Furthermore, the problem touches the very essence of Aristotle’s moral theory.

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Monte Johnson
University of California, San Diego

Citations of this work

Aristotle on Self-Sufficiency, External Goods, and Contemplation.Marc Gasser-Wingate - 2020 - Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie 102 (1):1-28.
Changing Our Minds: Democritus on What is Up to Us.Monte Johnson - 2014 - In Pierre Destrée, R. Salles & Marco Antonio De Zingano, Up to Us: Studies on Causality and Responsibility in Ancient Philosophy. Academia Verlag. pp. 1-18.
The Ethical Maxims of Democritus of Abdera.Monte Johnson - 2020 - In David Wolfsdorf, Early Greek Ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 211-242.

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