 Thus, any general claim beginning with the words ‘partialists (or impartialists) think that…’ is bound to be both misleading and contentious. In particular, there is good reason to be wary of objections to impartialism which claim that all impartialists endorse extreme moral demands, or that they require that practical reasoning be completely expunged of every vestige of the partial. It is true, of course, that at least some impartialists, such as Godwin, have endorsed such claims. But many do not. Deontologists, as we have seen, hold impartiality to be a deep and significant element of morality, but they also tend to allow for a considerable degree of first-order partiality. And even many consequentialists are prepared to admit the legitimacy of partial reasoning in some contexts, if only on an instrumental basis. It is useful, then, to draw a distinction between two sorts of impartialist moral theory. Impartialist theories which require all agents to display first-order impartiality at all times (Godwin’s, for example) might be referred to as strict impartialist theories. Impartialist theories which allow for some first-order partiality, but which nevertheless insist that all such behavior be justified in second-order impartialist terms, might be referred to as fundamentally impartialist moral theories. The class of fundamentally impartial theories will include not only contractualist, Kantian, and rule consequentialist theories, but also certain act consequentialist theories (e.g. Railton 1986) which allow the practice of first-order partiality as a means of promoting the impersonal good. Such theories allow for partiality that is permissible, justifiable, and perhaps even admirable in moral terms. At the same time, however, they insist that all such partiality is ultimately reducible – that is, justifiable in impartialist terms at some deeper level.