Cohen: Luck Egalitarianism

Some people are born with privilege, and this is before we even start talking about politics. Because some people are born intelligent, or sociable, or funny. Some people are born good-looking, or charismatic, or robust. And, according to Cohen's luck egalitarianism, this is something that we need to fix. Cohen argues that there are two different kinds of luck. There is brute luck and option luck. Brute luck is what happens to you without choice or control. So genetic diseases, natural talents, and unexpected accidents are all brute luck. Option luck is what happens to you as a result of your choices. So if you choose to invest money in a venture and it comes up good, if you choose a certain career or a certain school and it ends up being happy and lucrative, that is option luck because you chose it. Cohen argues that we should neutralise brute luck by various initiatives. For example, we should tax naturally talented individuals more than those without natural talent. We should invest more in public services that are available to everybody, regardless of their brute luck starting point. We should widen and enforce anti-discrimination laws to prevent the hiring of funny or attractive candidates when that is not relevant to the role. So, do you have brute luck, or are you brute unlucky? Were you born with a privilege that others do not? And do you think that we should have a politics that steps in to resolve it?