ABSTRACT
We frequently excuse a person’s allegiance to unacceptable views by referencing that person’s upbringing, his or her generation, or cultural influences. We acknowledge that Western whites don’t understand their own white privilege, simply taking it for granted because it has been so much a part of Western culture. Perhaps we even uncomfortably allow certain slurs coming from grandparents because things were different in their era. Such actions reflect a conception of the sedimentation of values and ideas that bears investigation. In the following chapter, I suggest that deeply held views are part of the indeterminate horizon of every person’s constitution of the world. Some of those views can be made more determinate through encounters with what we consider to be alien or other. I draw upon Husserlian phenomenology to lay out the connection between indeterminacy and horizons. Following this, I provide a detailed look at what Husserl means by homeworld and alienworld and how this level of indeterminacy can be made more determinate. Elaborating upon the role of genetic phenomenology in helping to peel back the layers of sedimentation that compose lifeworld, I finally draw some conclusions about ethical responsibility in the face of indeterminacy.
