Beyond Certainty

In Beyond Certainty: A Phenomenological Approach to Moral Reflection author Don Marietta turns moral reflection on its head. A unique study, Beyond Certainty is a phenomenological approach to the connection between factual knowledge and moral judgment. Marietta holds logical certainty to be unnecessary for moral decision-making. In point of fact, logical certainty about our moral judgments, according to the author, is impossible. Key dilemmas in recent moral theory are caught within this impasse represented through an "is/ought" dichotomy. Marietta trumps this impasse through a return to concrete reflection on our most primal consciousness of the world. He contends that consciousness does not separate out elements of facticity from evaluation and a sense of volition, as deductive forms of ethical and moral philosophy have required. For him, moral reflection, which is inimical to decision making, becomes the task of justifying the connection between fact, moral evaluation, and volition in our consciousness of the world. Marietta explains this task through a rigorous model requiring intersubjectivity about cultural valuation and experience, an exploration of cultural context or subjective "imbeddedness" of our selves and others in practical life, and a critical examination of individual worldviews that enable personal belief and attitudes.