Loyalty is a highly contested virtue. One the one hand, some have wondered whether it is really a virtue at all. On the other, we might doubt whether a person who was not loyal to anything could be said to have a defined moral character. Loyalty is so fundamental to so many of our relationships and commitments that it is hard to imagine a world without it. Because it structures our lives by setting horizons and limits within which we make choices and conduct our affairs, it is difficult to appreciate how significant, profound, and pervasive its influence is. That said, loyalty is a particularly salient moral concept in the public sphere, where demands for loyalty of various sorts, not to mention accusations of disloyalty, often inspire fervently passionate responses. Although loyalty invites moral objections and poses philosophical puzzles, it is undeniably held in high regard and viewed with great significance by many people. This volume presents ten new academic essays on the topic of loyalty considered as a virtue, written by scholars in philosophy, law, religious studies, empirical psychology, and child development, and approached from a diverse array of backgrounds and perspectives. The Virtue of Loyalty aims to help readers attain a greater understanding of this complex and multifaceted virtue.

Deep friendship may express profound loyalty, but so too may virulent nationalism. What can and should we say about this Janus-faced virtue of the will? This volume explores at length the contours of an important and troubling virtue -- its cognates, contrasts, and perversions; its strengths and weaknesses; its awkward relations with universal morality; its oppositional form and limits; as well as the ways in which it functions in various associative connections, such as friendship and familial relations, organizations and professions, nations, countries, and religious tradition.

A witty, provocative, story-filled inquiry into the indispensable virtue of loyalty—a tricky ideal that gets tangled and compromised when loyalties collide (as they inevitably do), but a virtue the author, a prizewinning columnist for The Wall Street Journal, says is as essential as it is impossible. Felten illustrates the push and pull of loyalties— from the ancient Greeks to Facebook—with stories and scenarios in which conflicting would-be moral trump cards trap the unlucky in painful ethical dilemmas. The foundation of our greatest satisfactions in life, loyalty also proves to be the root of much misery. Can we escape the excruciating predicaments when loyalties are at loggerheads? Can we avoid betraying and being betrayed? When looking for love and friendship—the things that make life worthwhile—we are looking for loyalty. Who can we count on? And who can count on us? These are the essential (and uncomfortable) questions loyalty poses. Loyalty and betrayal are the stuff of the great stories that move us: Agamemnon, Huck Finn, Brutus, Antigone, Judas. When is loyalty right, and when does the virtue become a vice? As Felten writes in his thoughtful and entertaining book, loyalty is vexing. It forces us to choose who and what counts most in our lives—from siding with one friend over another to favoring our own children over others. It forces us to confront the conflicting claims of fidelity to country, community, company, church, and even ourselves. Loyalty demands we make decisions that define who we are.

The Virtue of Loyalty presents ten new academic essays on the topic of loyalty considered as a virtue, written by scholars from a variety of disciplines including philosophy, law, religious studies, empirical psychology, and child development. Many of the essays are concerned with the issue of whether loyalty is a virtue, and under what conditions. Others confront questions pertaining to the psychological traits and commitments that accompany or enable loyalty.

An examination of the nature and virtuousness of loyalty and of some of its primary associations: friends, families, organizations, professions, nations, countries (patriotism), and religion (absolute loyalty). Loyalty is distinguished from its cognates and contrasts, its role in human associative life is articulated, and its status as a virtue is defended. The particularist-universalist debate is addressed, the idea of a loyal opposition explored, and its limits defined.

We prize loyalty in our friends, lovers and colleagues, but loyalty raises difficult questions. What is the point of loyalty? Should we be loyal to country, just as we are loyal to friends and family? Can the requirements of loyalty conflict with the requirements of morality? In this book, originally published in 2007, Simon Keller explores the varieties of loyalty and their psychological and ethical differences, and concludes that loyalty is an essential but fallible part of human life. He argues that grown children can be obliged to be loyal to their parents, that good friendship can sometimes conflict with moral and epistemic standards, and that patriotism is intimately linked with certain dangers and delusions. He goes on to build an approach to the ethics of loyalty that differs from standard communitarian and universalist accounts. His book will interest a wide range of readers in ethics and political philosophy.

What it means to be a man or a woman is questioned today like never before. While traditional gender roles have been eroding for decades, now the very categories of male and female are being discarded with reckless abandon. How does one act like a gentleman in such confusing times? The Catholic Gentleman is a solid and practical guide to virtuous manhood. It turns to the timeless wisdom of the Catholic Church to answer the important questions men are currently asking. In short, easy- to-read chapters, the author offers pithy insights on a variety of topics, including • How to know you are an authentic man • Why our bodies matter • The value of tradition • The purpose of courtesy • What real holiness is and how to achieve it • How to deal with failure in the spiritual life