How Luck Changes the Way We View the World

By: Daniel Breyer, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Daniel Breyer

“You've got to ask yourself one question: ‘Do I feel lucky?’ Well, do ya, punk?” Most of us are familiar with this famous line from the movie Dirty Harry. But perhaps the more important “one question” you should be asking yourself is: “What does lucky even mean?”

If you believe in luck — or if you absolutely do not believe in luck, join Associate Professor of Philosophy Daniel Breyer as he makes the case for the essential role that luck plays in our lives — and has played throughout human history. In this 10-part overview, he will give you a completely new appreciation for the surprising interplay between luck, responsibility, and free will.

Using the lens of real-life stories, as well as sharing a plethora of views on the subject from philosophers, writers, and leaders, Dr. Breyer demonstrates how luck affects our views of happiness, success, justice, and knowledge. Armed with the teachings of Aristotle, Richard Wiseman, Neil Levy, and others, Breyer presents the pros and cons of arguments that aim to show that luck undermines free will and renders moral responsibility impossible. You’ll consider fascinating cases of so-called moral luck that just might convince you to reconsider your most basic moral judgments. And you’ll even explore the science of luck (yes, there is such a thing), as well as epistemic luck — a kind of luck that threatens to undermine knowledge itself.

Perhaps most lucky of all, he’ll reveal practical tips for how to make your own luck, no matter what your fortunes bring.

©2021 Audible Originals, LLC (P)2021 Audible Originals, LLC.

Steadfast

So grateful to hear your voice and hear your ideas. Smart as ever. Much happiness and joy to you! Sunny

seems good intro to analytical philosophy of luck

I need to write at least 15 words to post this review; therefore, here's 15.

Good to a point

Pro: interesting philosophy of luck
Very in-depth
Con: Felt like author was reading a bit to carefully
Lots of terminology was difficult to understand

life, random events and choices

made me think about how I got to where I
am today. love the farmer at the end

Excellent survey of the philosophy of luck

Overall, a rewarding set of lectures to listen to. There is a nice variety of topics all related to luck and the different types of luck. I really enjoyed the more humanities elements being tied into lectures delivered in the analytic style. I did not want the series to end!

The only suggestion is a PDF be made available. It’s nice to follow along with an outline and be able to see the bibliography.

The Consolation of Philosophy for Determinists?

I’ve listened to all three of Professor Beyer’s courses available on Audible, and this is the best of the bunch. It’s more focused than the others, and while Breyer’s preoccupation with dialectics (I know, I get it, he's a philosopher) is still evident, he makes more of an effort to draw meaningful conclusions from the myriad conflicting views on luck that he presents. Refreshingly, his trademark refrain of “Well, what do you think?” is scarcely heard.

I found lectures 2, 3 and 6 the most interesting, for these explore the relationship between luck, determinism, and moral responsibility. As at least one other reviewer has noted, some of the arguments Breyer presents (but does not necessarily endorse) seem to diminish the culpability of drunk drivers and people who are careless with firearms. I strongly disagree with this sort of thinking, but after reviewing these lectures several times I am forced to admit that Breyer does a good job mapping out the ideas of the various skeptical philosophers he is referencing. His final word on this issue at the end of lecture 7 isn’t exactly a resounding endorsement of free will and personal responsibility, but he does succeed in defending these concepts from the dangerous notion that “luck swallows everything.”

This is a challenging course with some challenging vocabulary, but Breyer’s pleasant, conversational lecture style and the folksy, easily digested examples he provides help make it more accessible. If you’re like me, you may have to listen more than once to avoid the conclusion that we’re all just blameless automata who can chalk anything and everything up to luck. I don’t think this is what Professor Breyer means to say, but who knows, I may have gotten lost during one of his frequent detours through "Bad Idea County." I may just be a victim of some epistemic bad luck (see lecture 9).

Very dense topics

The theories and rhetoric are very well reasoned, but a bit too concise for casual listening. Examples come quickly, and are hard to keep track of, to keep the topics clear and separate in the mind, and to reference as they are discussed. While the study seems complete, each lecture seems to suffer from not quite enough time to understand and embrace each concept.

Boring

I have dozens of titles from The Great Courses and this is so boring I cannot...

Too Many Tangents

The first and last chapters / lessons were excellent. However Two following chapters about the moral equivalency of two drunk drivers who roll up on a sidewalk where one is unlucky and kills someone and how do we judge them was infuriating. They never once reference the unlucky person who was killed. It’s all about the two drivers and then adding in third and fourth drunk drivers with different scenarios. That’s not luck, it’s consequences of bad decisions. I thought the book had a great premise and really enjoyed the first and last lessons but that middle was difficult to get through. Excellent narration though to end in a positive. The author is lucky he has soothing pleasant voice.

propaganda. Don't waste your time.

I've listened to many great courses, this was the worst. Glad I didn't pay money for this one! Offensive, suppressive.. And I'm a woman!