Partiality and Intimacy in an Imperfect World

Abstract

Abstract Even if we accept that we have reasons of intimacy, we have to recognize that those reasons compete with our agent-neutral reasons to aid persons less privileged than ourselves. Many people in the world are in dire need of the basic necessities of life and have little hope of providing a comfortable and rewarding life for themselves or for their intimates. So we need to consider that our reasons of intimacy may be outweighed and that our actual practices of partiality are unjustified. This chapter considers some important ways in which this conflict between partiality and need has been conceptualized, and examines both charitable giving and inheritance tax to show how what are sometimes seen as only political problems are really personal problems for all of us. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the limitations of philosophy in approaching these issues.