Abstract

Across the lines of opposing Ethical theories extends a common conception of the moral point of view appropriately characterized as impartiality. Support for this characterization develops through discussion of Hobbes, Hume, Kant, and John Rawls. Modern moral philosophy is fixated on a range of problems ascribed to individual partiality. Ethical theories operate primarily in the realm of moral crisis, disregarding the details of people's lives and values. Ethical impartiality requries us to forget our selves and personal histories. This I oppose as narrow and unrealistic. Moral life involves enhanced personal value and historically developed character, not an impartially induced state of personal amnesia