 The plausibility of identifying the moral point of view with the impartial point of view, or of defining morality in terms of an impartial observer, presumably lies in the thought that such views capture the idea that morally speaking, every person is equally important. Whatever such conceptions may get wrong, then, one thing they seem to get right is the idea that there is a close and important connection between moral impartiality and equality (see especially Nagel 1991, Chapter 7).