Loyalty

This page is about the philosophical and semantic background of loyalty. For its use in business, see loyalty business model.

Loyalty and ethics

Plato said that only a man who is just can be loyal, and that loyalty is a condition of genuine philosophy. The philosopher Josiah Royce said it was the supreme moral good, and that one's devotion to an object mattered more than the merits of the object itself. In contrast, philosopher Michael E. Berumen thinks Royce turns morality on its head, and, for example, that a Nazi is not made more moral because of his extreme devotion to Nazism. Berumen contends that loyalty and adherence to duty are often conflated, mistakenly, and that one always ought to perform one's duty, notwithstanding one's feelings of loyalty, which might be directed towards something that is contrary to duty. Berumen maintains that unconditional loyalty is morally forbidden, for it does not recognize moral limits.

Related Topics:
Plato - Josiah Royce - Michael E. Berumen

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Lao Tzu's take on loyalty: "When people lost sight of the way to live

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Came codes of love and honesty,

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Learning came, charity came,

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Hypocrisy took charge;

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When differences weakened family ties

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Came benevolent fathers and dutiful sons;

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And when lands were disrupted and misgoverned

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Came ministers commended as loyal." from the Witter Bynner translation.

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