Author Description

"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. According to him, logical certainty about our moral judgments is impossible. Key dilemmas in recent moral theory are caught within this impasse and 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 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 ourselves and others in practical life, and a critical examination of individual worldviews that enable personal beliefs and attitudes."--BOOK JACKET.