The concentric circles
Everyone counts equally, but concern unfolds in circles, from the near to the far.
Supports Concentric circles
- Picture yourself at the center of nested circles: yourself first, then those close to you, your friends, your fellow citizens, and all around them the whole of humanity.
- We owe consideration to each, but we can effectively care only for those near us; a world in which each watches first over their own circle is also the one in which each has the best chance of being protected.
- Partiality is then not a breach of equality, but its lived form: the moral task, the said, is to draw the circles gradually inward, extending to the distant the attention owed to the near.
Therefore One can therefore hold the equal worth of all at the foundation, and priority to those close to us in action: this is the graded of the concentric circles.
How far does this reasoning convince you?
Not at all
Entirely
Deepenings
One morality, on two levels
- Two levels of moral thinking are sometimes distinguished. At a reflective, impartial level, one justifies the rules; at the everyday level, one cultivates love for one's own, precisely because that is, seen from above, what best serves the good of all.
- Partiality then becomes what impartiality itself recommends: no longer its opposite, but its implementation. answers the charge of instability.
How far does this reasoning convince you?
Not at all
Entirely
Put to the test
Objection