Loyalty

Loyalty, is faithfulness or a devotion to a person or cause. It may refer to:

In general

• Appeal to loyalty, a logical fallacy.
• Fidelity, loyalty with respect to a religious faith or a relationship.

In politics

• Allegiance, attachment to a cause or nation;
• Fealty, the concept of duties owed to a superior under feudalism;
• Loyalty oaths, which usually require disclaimer of opinions or membership in organizations considered hostile;
• Loyalty Day, an annual observance on May 1 in the United States;
• Loyalty Day (Argentina), an annual observance on Ocober 17 in Argentina;
• Dual loyalty, loyalty to two possibly inconsistent powers;

In business

• Duty of Loyalty, a concept in the law of fiduciaries and trusts;
• Loyalty marketing, in which businesses seek to provide incentives to encourage customers to return;
  • Loyalty program
  • Loyalty business model
  • Brand loyalty
  • Fan loyalty

In the arts

• Illinois Loyalty, a school song of the University of Illinois
• Loyalty to Loyalty, an album by the Cold War Kids
• Loyalty (album), an album by Fat Joe
• Loyalty (Screwball album), an album by Screwball
• Loyalty (Angel), an episode of the TV series Angel
• Loyalty (Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode), an episode of the TV series Law & Order: Criminal Intent

In geography

• Loyalty Islands in the Pacific Ocean

In history

• HMS Loyalty, the name of several British Navy warships
• USS Loyalty, the name of several United States Navy warships
• Executive Order 9835, an order issued by U.S. President Harry S. Truman, often known as the Loyalty Order, establishing loyalty boards to screen Federal employees for Communist opinions

Loyalty and marketing

The practice of providing discounts, prizes, or other incentives to encourage continued patronage of a business. Generally, loyalty programs are considered less expensive to maintain than allowing customer defection or 'churn'.

Loyalty and ethics

The concept of loyalty is an important part of ethics. Plato originally said that only a man who is just can be loyal, and that loyalty is a condition of genuine philosophy. The philosopher Josiah Royce said it was the supreme moral good, and that one's devotion to an object mattered more than the merits of the object itself. Loyalty is a quality one should look for in a friend.

Loyalty in the Bible

Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.” (Matthew 6:24 NIV) Attempting to serve two masters leads to “double-mindedness” (James 4:8), undermining loyalty to a cause. James 5:2. The Bible also speaks of loyal ones, which would be those who follow the Bible with absolute loyalty, as in "Precious in the eyes of God is the death of his loyal ones", (Psalms 116:15)

Loyalty in animals

Animals as pets have a large sense of loyalty to humans which may be more human-to-human loyalty. Probably the most famous case of this is Hachikō, who came back to the place he used to meet his master every day for about 10 years after his death.

Loyalty within hierarchy

Within hierarchies loyalty usually has to be given to authority.

References

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)