This volume investigates the tension between the moral requirement for impartiality and the human tendency toward partiality in personal relationships. The editors, Brian Feltham and John Cottingham, curate a collection of ten original essays that examine how moral theory accounts for special commitments to family and friends versus the universal demands of ethics. The contributors analyze whether these two modes of moral reasoning are fundamentally irreconcilable or if they can be integrated into a coherent framework for ethical living.

Experts identify this collection as a significant contribution to contemporary debates in moral theory, particularly for its focus on the intersection of personal loyalty and universal duty. The text is noted for its academic rigor and is frequently utilized by students and scholars of ethics to navigate the complexities of normative moral systems.