This article deals with the question of moral justification to show preference towards those individuals with whom an agent shares a relationship or who belong to the same group as the agent, on the basis of that very relationship or belonging — advantaging those individuals above other people who are strangers, i.e. not sharing a relationship with or belonging to the same group as the agent. The article clarifies basic concepts which apply to the issue and the question of the interaction between partiality, universalism and equality. However, the article will not deal with the moral basis for showing preference towards relatives, which we will examine at another time. To exemplify these concepts, this article will use a series of hypothetical situations devised by the authors.
