Universalizability and the Commitment to Impartiality

Abstract

Let us assume here that we are willing to reason and act within the bounds of morality, that there is something that we recognize as the moral point of view which we are committed to and which in certain respects circumscribes our actions. Such a conception would also have a conception of justice as a proper part and it is at least plausible to believe that such a conception would have as an integral element a principle of impartiality: a principle to the effect that all human beings have an equal right to the fulfillment of their interests. What I want to inquire into is whether there is a statement of the principle of universalizability which is both categorically prescriptive and rationally undeniable which entails the principle of impartiality.¹ In fine, can we get the principle of impartiality from the principle of universalizability? I want to know whether it is the case that, if you start from universalizability and you are consistent, you will be required also to accept the principle of impartiality?