The partiality of friendship

According to agent-neutral consequentialism, agents ought always to do what is best for everybody; that is, they ought always to perform the action which brings about the most good, where everyone's interests count equally in determining the good. Normally we are inclined to fail to meet this standard in at least two important ways. We are inclined to treat our own interests as if they bore more weight than the impersonal standpoint attributes to them. And we are similarly inclined to favour our friends' interests. What's more, we do not usually take ourselves to be acting immorally when ...