Loyalty: An Essay on the Morality of Relationships - Hardcover

Fletcher, George Philip

3.3

10 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195070267 ISBN 13: 9780195070262

Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc, 1993

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At a time when age-old political structures are crumbling, civil strife abounds, and economic uncertainty dominates the news, loyalty offers us security in our relationships with associates, friends, and family. Yet loyalty is a suspect virtue. It is not impartial. It is not blind. It violates the principles of morality that have dominated Western thought for the last two hundred years. Loyalties are also thought to be irrational and contrary to the spirit of Capitalism. In a free market society, we are encouraged to move to the competition when we are not happy. This way of thinking has invaded our personal relationships and undermined our capacities for friendship and loyalty to those who do not serve our immediate interests. As George P. Fletcher writes, it is time for loyal bonds, born of history and experience, to prevail both over impartial morality and the self-interested thinking of the market trader. In this extended essay, Fletcher offers an account of loyalty that illuminates its role in our relationships with family and friends, our ties to country, and the commitment of the religious to God and their community. Fletcher opposes the traditional view of the moral self as detached from context and history. He argues instead that loyalty, not impartial detachment, should be the central feature of our moral and political lives. He claims that a commitment to country is necessary to improve the lot of the poor and disadvantaged. This commitment may well require greater reliance on patriotic rituals in education and a reconsideration of the Supreme Court's extending the First Amendment to protect flag burning. Given the worldwide currents of parochialism and politicaldecentralization, the task for us, Fletcher argues, is to renew our commitment to a single nation united in its diversity. Bringing to bear his expertise as a law professor, Fletcher reasons that legal systems should defer to existing relationships of loyalty. Surrogate mothers should not be

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Review:

'George Fletcher writes with a rare combination of legal knowledge, theoretical sophistication, and common sense. His remarkable feel for the place of loyalty in everyday life makes this a book that should figure importantly in contemporary moral, political, and constitutional debates.'Michael Walzer, Princeton University

'George Fletcher has made a notable contribution to the continuing debate about the relationship of the impersonal requirements of justice to the particular demands of those ties and loyalties which bond us to those to whom we are closest. His is a book rich in illuminating examples and in rewarding insights.'Alasdair Macintyre, University of Notre Dame

'In LOYALTY, George Fletcher brings to life a subject that liberal, legal and political theory has barely recognized. The theme of loyalty, he convincingly demonstrates, is a hidden thread running through a wide range of seemingly unrelated issues.'Mary Ann Glendon, Harvard Law School

`Loyalties are not only a value to us, they define us. This thesis is developed and defended with great force by Professor Fletcher, and applied with ingenuity.'Sidney Morgenbesser, Columbia University

`This challenging and densely packed extended essay ... thoroughly dissects the concept of loyalty'Timothy Hunter, Cleveland Plain Dealer 14/2/93

`One suspects LOYALTY will win Fletcher an enduring audience which is just the sort he might want.Carlin Romano, Philadelphia Inquirer 14/2/93

`presents clearly and vigorously an important range of moral problems ... he commands plenty of good, thought-provoking examples of those commitments and the clashes they give rise to, and he handles them effectively ... he says much that is valuable about the idea of actions as communications rather than mere causes of results.'Mary Midgley, Times Literary Supplement

'George Fletcher ... offers a lively account of the loyalties which he thinks resist impartialist analysis. His book is insightful, and replete with challenging case studies ... his essay is undoubtedly an overall success.'Times Higher Education Supplement

'One fascinating aspect about Fletcher's Loyalty is that it raises a number of questions that lawyers and philosophers can continue debating at length ... The issue of oaths in general, and loyalty oaths in particular, is just one of a great variety of topics raised by George Fletcher ... The arguments in this essay are well worth considering in detail. Fletcher's final plea for reasoned discourse "across time, across space, and across culture" transcending our roots in loyal relationships is an invitation to do exactly that.'B. Sharon Byrd, University of Augsburg, Law and Philosophy 13:1994

From the Back Cover:

In this important work, George P. Fletcher argues that it is time for loyal bonds, born of history and experience, to prevail both over impartial morality and the self-interested thinking of the market trader. Offering an account of loyalty that illuminates its role in our relationships with family and friends, our ties to country, and the commitment of the religious to God and their community.

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