My takeaway from the Milgram experiment （https://www.simplypsychology.org/milgram.html） is that ordinary, everyday people are capable of both troubling actions and remarkable goodness. Recently, I came across the concept of "moral luck," which was introduced by philosopher Thomas Nagel in 1976. Moral luck is a fascinating philosophical idea that challenges our conventional understanding of normal actions and moral responsibility. It poses a fundamental question: to what extent do we truly control our moral actions and their resulting consequences?
People in China during the Cultural Revolution had a bad moral luck. During that time, individuals were pressured to betray one another. I've heard terrible stories of spouses turning against each other, children against their parents, and friends and coworkers betraying one another. Later on, I met some of these people, and they turned out to be normal, kind individuals.
People with abnormal tendencies, such as psychopaths and pedophiles, also have bad moral luck. We used to think of these individuals as purely evil. As science has advanced, we now understand that genetics play a significant role in their conditions. They didn't choose these traits; they simply had the misfortune of inheriting them.
Society is increasingly recognizing that both genetics and the environment profoundly influence people's moral actions.
