Book Catalog
Luck
The Brilliant Randomness of Everyday Life
By Nicholas Rescher
Our Price: $19.00
Our Item Code: luck
Postage Code: book1
237 Pages, Trade Paperback
Farrar Straus Giroux
Related listings: Philosophy
Date: 1995
ISBN: 0-374-19428-9
Country of Origin: USA
Added to Catalog: 1/19/97
(Revised 1/20/96)
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Our Review |
Opinion of the webmaster, subject to debate |
Offers a realistic view of the nature and operation
of luck to help one come to terms with life in a chaotic
world. Differentiating luck from fate (inexorable
destiny) and fortune (mere chance), philosopher
Nicholas Rescher uses historical examples from antiquity
to the present. Rescher argues that luck cannot be
manipulated or controlled, but it can be managed to
some extent.
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Information from the Publisher |
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From the Book Cover
Luck touches us all, from the lowliest to the high and
mighty. But although luck has a firm hold on all our
lives, we seldom reflect on it in a cogent, concerted
way. "Why me?" we complain when things go
wrong--though seldom when things go right. Why is
life so unfair? But to lack a clear perspective on what
luck is and how it works is to ask for trouble.
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 antiquity to the present. It
was a matter of bad luck for King Philip II of Spain,
for instance, that a storm scattered the Invincible
Armada in the English Channel. It was a matter of
good luck for those who couldn't buy passage aboard
the sold-out Titanic. And while it would be unlucky for
us to suffer a mishap on an airplane, we would not
really be lucky merely to survive our journey: it has
been estimated that a traveler would have to take a
scheduled flight daily for four thousand years before
an accident would occur to him.
Luck cannot be manipulated or controlled,
Rescher argues, but it can be managed to some
extent. From the use of lots in the Old and New
Testaments to Thomas Gataker's treatise of 1619
on the great English lottery of 1612, from casino
gambling to playing the stock market, Nicholas
Rescher's luck shows how the tiger of luck can be
tamed to improve our chances for good luck, reduce
those for bad, and in general improve the fortune of
mankind.
Table of 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 Creeks
- 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
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About the Author
Nicolas Rescher is University Professor of Philosophy
at the University of Pittsburgh. The former editor of
American Philosophical Quarterly, and
a past president of the American Philosophical
Association, he is the author of more than thirty works
of philosophy.
-- From the Publisher
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