Abstract

Human beings have a preference to hold some people closer and dearer than the rest of the human species. Furthermore, we have a tendency to spend more time with these close others, to share with them our activities, interests, the narratives of who we are, as well as our life energy and other resources. The reason for this is that, as Frank Jackson puts it, “[o]ur lives are given shape, meaning and value by what we hold dear, by those persons and life projects to which we are especially committed.” Samuel Scheffler adds that because we value them, personal projects and close relationships give us reasons for action. Therefore, close relationships and personal projects are what makes life worth living and what makes our actions worth performing. If a life worth living is an examined life, and close relationships constitute an important part of what makes life worth living, it is worthwhile to examine the topic of interpersonal closeness. Guided by this reasoning, a group of academics have come together to produce this volume of Etyka—a volume dedicated to the ethics of close relationships.