Good Reasons: Moral Certitude and Manifold Traditions

Abstract

This paper presents research into the possibility and nature of moral certitude, given the plurality of moral attitudes and social arrangements present in the contemporary world. Alasdair MacIntyre’s universal communitarianism and Karl-Otto Apel’s transcendental pragmatic discourse ethics are compared and critically evaluated, with regards to their respective viability for establishing a universal foundation for the formation of normative precepts, specifically those precepts expressing an emancipatory agenda for mankind.