Loyalty has always been a virtue of ethics, but ethics of our western civilization it seems, is changing. Loyalty has its domestic, religious, commercial, and its professional forms which in these forms, the concept of loyalty encompasses elements of freedom of belief, expression, and association. So why is loyalty needed? Why be loyal to our religion, family, country, or place of business? When we review these ethical controversies that express this sort of questioning, some people find themselves troubled and bewildered. It tends to deprive us of the confidence that we all need in order to answer the question, why be loyal?
             Loyalty is a moral standard, and there is a delicate relationship between loyalty and ethics. When asking a question about loyalty, one must know this virtue that lies in ethics does not fall under an exact science, nor religion, but under moral law. The ethnologist Dr. Rudolf Steinmetz of The Hague states, "the significance of loyalty is a central principle of the moral life"(Royce, 1969).
             Loyalty can take two positions in the moral life, good and bad. But the purpose of moral rules is to guide human behavior toward actions which may be considered good (Stumpf, 1993). In finding a need to be loyal, one must understand that loyalty is a relative term, and implies that there is some object, some cause, to which loyalty is to be shown. Looking at our domestic and commercial society, we can find a personal attitude of loyalty in two forms. According to Royce there is a circular conflict of self-will and social-will that determines our loyalty. Thus loyalty, Royce states," viewed as a personal attitude, solves the paradox of our ordinary existence, by showing us outside of ourselves the cause which is to be served, and inside of ourselves the will which delights to do this service, and which is not thwarted but enriched and expressed in such service"(1969).
             Now, a loyal person is one...