Loyalty

Loyalty is the characteristic of exhibiting or feeling strong allegiance, support, or devotion for another person, idea, or entity. Early twentieth-century philosopher Josiah Royce is often credited with initiating the modern study of loyalty in philosophy and ethics. Philosophers and social scientists have proposed a variety of theories to explain the origin and importance of loyalty in human history and culture. The study of loyalty is important to the modern understanding of concepts such as friendship, nationalism, patriotism, and religious or spiritual devotion. In addition, the related concept of brand and company loyalty is an important topic in modern business and marketing strategies.

Defining Loyalty

Loyalty is a complex behavioral and emotional state in which an individual or group displays adherence, allegiance, support, or devotion to another entity. Philosophers and social scientists have had difficulty defining loyalty, as there has remained substantial disagreement about whether loyalty should be considered an emotional or a behavioral state.

In philosophy, the person or group exhibiting loyalty is called the "subject," while the individual or entity that is the focus of a person’s loyalty is called the "object." Philosophers generally agree that loyalty is associational, meaning that a person exhibits loyalty toward an entity with which they are in some way affiliated or associated. For instance, patriotic loyalty arises when an individual feels that they are a member of or sympathizer with a certain country. Similarly, loyalty to friends, family, businesses, or even products typically involves a sense of ownership or personal association.

When considered as an emotional state, loyalty can be defined as the development of deep feelings of attachment, allegiance, support, or devotion to another person, idea, or entity. In this definition, the emotional state of the subject is the essential, definitive element. Some philosophers have suggested that loyalty should be defined as a behavioral or practical phenomenon based on the degree to which an individual maintains allegiance to another entity, regardless of the subject’s feelings about the object of their loyalty. In many cases, loyalty manifests as both an emotional and behavioral phenomenon.

Another debate in the study of loyalty involves the question of whether loyalty is an exclusively human quality or can be applied to other species. For instance, in human popular culture, dogs are often described as having loyalty to their owners, even in cases of mistreatment or abuse. Nonhuman loyalty can be seen as either emotional or behavioral, and the choice of definition depends, in part, on whether nonhuman animals are seen as having the ability to form complex emotional bonds.

Explanations of Loyalty

In a 1993 essay, law specialist George P. Fletcher argues that loyalty is essential to decision-making and is important primarily in situations where an individual remains devoted to one entity despite having the option to shift allegiance to another entity. This method of looking at loyalty also suggests that loyalty can be defined by the ability to resist temptation from other entities, companies, or individuals seeking to gain allegiance or devotion from others. For instance, a person can be seen as loyal to another person or brand primarily in cases where the subject passes on opportunities to change their allegiance and remains faithful to the object of their loyalty.

Evolutionary psychologists have suggested that loyalty is an evolutionary adaptation that helps social groups of humans or other animals maintain cohesion. In the 1993 book The Moral Sense, for instance, James Q. Wilson argues that ancient human societies survived because of loyalty, which prevented members of the group from making selfish choices that might have undermined the stability of the group.

One of the essential differences between philosophical conceptions of loyalty involves the question of whether loyalty is essentially selfish or altruistic. Some philosophers argue that loyalty is essentially selfish, as the subject behaving in a loyal manner seeks to gain rewards through the display of devotion and experiences an internal sense of self-satisfaction and confidence in their beliefs and choices. Royce, who pioneered the modern study of loyalty in philosophy, used similar reasoning in arguing for the concept of "loyalty to loyalty." In this theory, Royce argued that humanity, as a group, should encourage and preserve loyalty as a fundamental virtue because loyalty provides individuals with emotional security and helps them define the limits of their allegiance to others.

From the standpoint of virtue ethics, which is a branch of ethics that views ethics as human virtues, loyalty can be seen as a virtuous trait that is associated with positive moral qualities, such as fidelity, faith, and obligation. However, some philosophers have argued that loyalty can also be a negative trait, such as when a person is loyal to an immoral individual or entity.

Loyalty can also be explained through the philosophies of consequentialism and utilitarianism, which maintain that ethical behavior can be motivated by an understanding of the outcomes of a person’s behavior. In a society without loyalty, behavior might be motivated solely by individualistic desires. Individuals might then be unwilling to make sacrifices for the benefit of others or for society as a whole. The consequence of a world without loyalty, therefore, can justify the existence and virtue of loyalty in human culture.

Loyalty in Application

One of the most familiar instances of loyalty can be seen in the sense of patriotism and loyalty to one’s nation or larger community. The study of patriotism can be used to explore issues involving the virtue of loyalty. For instance, while patriotism in general might be considered virtuous, patriotism directed toward a government or entity seen as immoral calls into question the merit of such blind loyalty. Questionable cases have included loyalty to the Nazi state or to other governmental and nationalistic organizations seen as having been guilty of human rights and moral or ethical violations.

In business, the concept of customer loyalty to a brand is an essential element of marketing. Businesses attempt to create brand and customer loyalty by eliciting emotional or behavioral attachments from consumers that favor their business or brand. Fostering customer loyalty is a complex process that deals with the public and personal perception of a business or brand. A customer may have loyalty for a certain brand or business based on the belief that the brand or business is ethical or has other positive societal virtues. Alternatively, an individual may have loyalty for a brand based on the belief that the brand provides a unique and irreplaceable benefit to the person.

Faithfulness in monogamous relationships is another issue commonly associated with loyalty and involves the capacity or willingness to weigh personal benefits against the long-term stability of a family or relationship. The issue of loyalty in human relationships relates to the broader concept of loyalty as a tool to aid in the cohesion of essential human groups, including families, villages, communities, and nations.

Bibliography

Fletcher, George P. Loyalty: An Essay on the Morality of Relationships. Oxford UP, 1993.

Foust, Mathew A. Loyalty to Loyalty: Josiah Royce and the Genuine Moral Life. Fordham UP, 2012.

Kleinig, John. "Loyalty." Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 22 Mar. 2022, plato.stanford.edu/entries/loyalty/. Accessed 22 Jan. 2025.

Kleinig, John. On Loyalty and Loyalties: The Contours of a Problematic Virtue. Oxford UP, 2014.

Malone, Chris, and Susan T. Fiske. The Human Brand: How We Relate to People, Products, and Companies. Jossey, 2013.

Primoratz, Igor, and Aleksandar Pavković. Patriotism: Philosophical and Political Perspectives. Ashgate, 2007.

Royce, Josiah. The Philosophy of Loyalty. Macmillan, 1908.

Wilson, James Q. The Moral Sense. Free, 1993.

Zeigler-Hill, Virgil, et al., editors. Evolutionary Perspectives on Social Psychology. Springer, 2015.