Paloma Morales

It is in our personal relationships that many of us find happiness and fulfilment. It is also in them, when they are deficient or deteriorate, that we find the deepest sorrow and desolation. For many of us, our personal relationships are, for better or worse, at the centre of our lives. It makes sense, then, to also place them at the centre of our philosophical inquiries. Societal arrangements should be evaluated in light of their impact on our relationships. Of course, conducting such an evaluation requires thinking carefully about our relationships, to understand what it means for them to go well. This thesis illustrates the many insights we can get from both looking closely at our personal relationships and placing them at the centre of our philosophical investigations. We can, for example, learn more about the desirability of existing societal arrangements by considering how accessible they make the goods of personal relationships. We can also discover shortcomings in the existing literature. For instance, the thesis shows that, by exaggerating the place occupied by moral considerations in our personal relationships, philosophers have so far provided an incomplete picture of them, and of their value. Placing relationships at the centre of our inquiries also allows for a better understanding of morality itself. The thesis shows that certain moral phenomena with which philosophers have grappled for some time can, rather effortlessly, be made sense of once proper consideration is given to relationships. Though each chapter is self-contained, together, they paint a picture of the many ways in which existing societies, and the philosophical discussions that take place within them, fall short of providing the ideal conditions for personal relationships to thrive. But the thesis also serves to start elucidating the way forward, or so I hope.