Introduction: The Treachery and Ambivalence of Loyalty

Abstract

This introduction to the book presents loyalty as occupying an ambiguous place in our moral thinking, calling for further sustained reflection. On one hand, loyalty is a cherished value and on the other, a quality to be feared. The treachery and ambivalence of loyalty is brought into relief via the classical example of Sophocles’ Antigone and the contemporary examples of the September 11 attacks and Enron scandal. How one determines what loyalties should be judged as good and what loyalties should be judged as bad, as well as how to adjudicate among apparently conflicting loyalties, are matters without obvious solutions. Josiah Royce is the lone philosopher to base an ethical theory on the virtue of loyalty, so his philosophy serves as a theoretical framework for addressing these issues and other problems concerning the role of loyalty in the moral life.