Luck : the brilliant randomness of everyday life / Nicholas Rescher.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rescher, Nicholas, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Chance.

Fortune.

Fate and fatalism.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (250 p.)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania : University of Pittsburgh Press, [1995]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Annotation Luck touches us all. "Why me?" we complain when things go wrongthough seldom when things go right. But although luck has a firm hold on all our lives, we seldom reflect on it in a cogent, concerted way. In Luck, one of our most eminent philosophers offers a realistic view of the nature and operation of luck to help us come to sensible terms with life in a chaotic world. Differentiating luck from fate (inexorable destiny) and fortune (mere chance), Nicholas Rescher weaves a colorful tapestry of historical examples, from the use of lots in the Old and New Testaments to Thomas Gatakers treatise of 1619 on the great English lottery of 1612, from casino gambling to playing the stock market. Because we are creatures of limited knowledge who do and must make decisions in the light of incomplete information, Rescher argues, we are inevitably at the mercy of luck. It behooves us to learn more about it.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Luck and the Human Condition

2. The Language of Luck

3. The Iconography of Luck: The Domain of Fortuna

4. Luck's Long Reach

I. Enigmas of Chance

1. Luck and the Unexpected

2. How Luck Works

3. Luck versus Fate and Fortune

4. What Is Luck?

5. Luck and the Extra-Ordinary

II. Failures of Foresight

1. The Limits of Predictability

2. Ontological Impredictability: Chance

3. Chaos

4. Choice

5. Ignorance

6. How Impredictability Diffuses

7. Misprediction: Prediction Spoilers

8. Luck and Human Finitude

III. The Different Faces of Luck

1. Modes of Luck

2. Real versus Apparent Luck

3. Categorical versus Conditional Luck

4. The Measurement of Luck: Fortune and Probability as Luck-Determinative Factors

IV. An Infinity of Accidents

1. The Prominence of Luck in Human Affairs

2. Luck in Settings of Competition and Conflict

3. Foresight versus Chance in Human History

V. Visions of Sugarplums

1. Attitudes Toward Luck: Luck as Friend and Foe

2. The Psychology of Luck

3. Luck and Wisdom: The Proverbial Perspective

4. Luck as an Equalizer in Gambling and Sport

VI. The Philosophers of Gambling

1. Introduction

2. Four Theorists

3. The Ethos of the Era

VII. The Musings of Moralists

1. Owing to Luck's Chanciness, Fairness Does Not Enter into It

2. The Political Economy of Luck and the Issue of Compensation

3. Luck the Leveler

4. Can One Have Moral Luck?

5. The Centrality of the Ordinary

6. The Perspective of the Greeks

7. The Normative Dimension

VIII. Can the Tiger Be Tamed?

1. Luck Is Not an Agent that Can Be Propitiated

2. Luck Can Be Influenced Not by Superstitious Manipulation but by Prudence

3. Taking One's Chances

4. Common Sense in Dealing with Matters of Luck.

5. More on Handling Risks

IX. Life in a Halfway House

1. There's No Taking the Luck out of Life

2. Life in a Halfway House

3. Luck and the Human Condition

4. Luck and Reason

5. An Evolutionary Perspective

Appendix: Taking Luck's Measure

Notes

Name Index.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (ebrary, viewed September 6, 2014).

Includes bibliographical references (pages 213-231) and index.

ISBN:

9780822972273

0822972271

OCLC:

891395936