The Ethic of Loyalty to the Visible

Abstract

The previous chapter dealt with the relationship between an ethic of justice and an ethic of compassion. One of the foundations of an ethic of compassion, as I showed, is loyalty to the event—a loyalty driven by the recognition of the moral agent’s unique situation. In this chapter, I will attempt to broaden the scope of this loyalty and will refer to it as “loyalty to the visible.” I open with an explication of the nature of loyalty in general and then move on to consider loyalty to the visible in particular. This chapter will serve as a theoretical platform for the others since the “ethic of loyalty to the visible” is the foundation for all the variations of inner retreat.