Thesis: Skeptics insist that, to be deserving, working hard is not enough; we must also deserve credit for being destined to work hard. While this skeptical theory is not incoherent, neither is there any reason to believe it.

THE “BIG BANG” THEORY

Nearly everyone would say people ought to get what they deserve. But if we ask what people deserve, or on what basis, people begin to disagree. A few will say we deserve things simply by virtue of being human, or being in need. Many will say we deserve reward for our efforts, or for the real value our efforts create. It is not necessary, and may not even be feasible, to produce a complete catalog of all possible desert bases. Suffice it to say, the standard bases on which persons commonly are said to be deserving include character, effort, and achievement.

What are we doing when we judge someone to be deserving, that is, when we acknowledge someone's character, effort, or achievement? Here is a suggestion: to judge Bob deserving is to judge Bob worthy. It is to judge that Bob has features that make a given outcome Bob's just reward. Intuitively, although less obviously, to acknowledge that there are things Bob can do to be deserving is to acknowledge that Bob is a person: able to choose and to be responsible for his choices. Something like this is implicit in normal deliberation about what a person deserves.