Chance and its consequences

Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Madsen Pirie

“William James called her ‘the bitch-goddess, Success.’ He meant it as a complaint about America’s worship of her, but the phrase catches something true. She is a goddess because we deify whatever she touches, crediting it with foresight and merit it never had. She is a bitch because she hands out her favours with no regard for desert at all. What I want to call contingency is just her proper name – the rather distinguished term by which we dress up and disguise mere chance.” (07/21/26)

https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/chance-and-its-consequences