Luck: Its nature and significance for human knowledge and agency its nature and significance for human knowledge and agency

As Thinkers In The Market For Knowledge And As Agents Aspiring To Free, Morally Responsible Action, We Are Inevitably Subject To A Wide Range Of Different Kinds Of Luck. Once Appreciated, Luck's Pervasive Influence On Human Intellectual And Practical Endeavor Can Become A Source Of Acute Distress. Our Inevitable Subjection To Luck Threatens To Thoroughly Frustrate Our Aspirations To Knowledge And Free, Responsible Agency, Thereby Sapping Much Of The Value From Our Intellectual And Practical Successes. This Book Presents And Defends A Comprehensive New Theory Of Luck In Light Of A Critical Appraisal Of The Literature's Leading Accounts, Then Brings This New Theory Of Luck To Bear On Central Issues In The Theory Of Knowledge And The Philosophy Of Action. It Argues For An Optimistic View Of Luck's Significance For Human Intellectual And Practical Endeavor According To Which Knowledge And Free, Responsible Agency Are Compatible With A Surprisingly Wide Range Of Luck-related Phenomena.-- E.j. Coffman, Associate Professor Of Philosophy, University Of Tennessee, Usa. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. As thinkers in the market for knowledge and as agents aspiring to free, morally responsible action, we are inevitably subject to a wide range of different kinds of luck. Once appreciated, luck's pervasive influence on human intellectual and practical endeavor can become a source of acute distress. Our inevitable subjection to luck threatens to thoroughly frustrate our aspirations to knowledge and free, responsible agency, thereby sapping much of the value from our intellectual and practical successes. This book presents and defends a comprehensive new theory of luck in light of a critical appraisal of the literature's leading accounts, then brings this new theory of luck to bear on central issues in the theory of knowledge and the philosophy of action. It argues for an optimistic view of luck's significance for human intellectual and practical endeavor according to which knowledge and free, responsible agency are compatible with a surprisingly wide range of luck-related phenomena.-- Provided by Publisher Front Matter....Pages i-xi Lucky Events: The Current Debate and a New Proposal....Pages 1-24 What Is a Stroke of Luck? Enriching the Strokes Account....Pages 25-48 Knowledge and Luck I: Gettiered Belief and the Ease of Mistake Approach....Pages 49-67 Knowledge and Luck II: Three More Approaches to Gettiered Belief....Pages 68-96 Freedom, Responsibility, and Luck I: The Possibility of Moral Responsibility and Literal Arguments for the Proximal Determination Requirement....Pages 97-128 Freedom, Responsibility, and Luck II: Stipulative Arguments for the Proximal Determination Requirement and Three Arguments against It....Pages 129-163 Coda....Pages 164-166 Back Matter....Pages 167-202