ABSTRACT
This chapter proposes an account of the formal element of fairness in terms of impartiality or objectivity. Recourse to impartiality also broadens the range of possible fairness concerns beyond the limitations associated with instances of disadvantaging. It seems possible to identify some instances of unfairness that do not exhibit any partiality, bias, or prejudice. But it is possible to act unfairly, it seems, by acting upon reasons that do not involve or exhibit any bias or partiality. While disadvantaging is concerned entirely with affecting outcomes, impartiality is concerned chiefly with the reasons one has for doing something and not specifically with outcomes. Impartial reasons are blind to personal preferences, and thus they are to be distinguished from self-regarding reasons. Persons who act upon self-regarding reasons put themselves first and often privilege their own personal interests over the interests of others.
