An ethics for relations between strangers

In our relations with casual acquaintances and unidentified fellow citizens, absolute impartiality may be a prime moral demand; but among intimates a certain discreet partiality is, surely, only equitable, and certainly not unethical. So a system of ethics that rests its principles on “the veil of ignorance” may well be “fair,” but it will also be–essentially–an ethics for relations between strangers.

Stephen Toulmin, “The Tyranny of Principles.”