In Marcia Baron’s article, “The Moral Status of Loyalty,” she proposes many ideas concerning loyalty. Loyalty is definitely an essential quality in almost all relationships, including an engineer’s relationship with their employer and society. Baron argues that we can really only show loyalty to specific people, and not to ideals, causes, or people in general, agreeing overall with the opinions and views of John Ladd and Andrew Oldenquist. In this paper, I will argue against Baron’s view. I think that we can be loyal to ideals, causes and the general public, not only singularly, but to them all at the same time.
Loyalty is always going to be a problem or issue for engineers. Being loyal to your beliefs, the company you work for, and society is always going to come as a challenge because you really cannot make everyone happy all of the time. Baron states, “The NSPE Code begins, ‘The Engineer, to uphold and advance the honor and dignity of the engineering profession and in keeping with the high standards of ethical conduct. . . will be honest and impartial, and will serve with devotion his employer, his clients, and the public. . . .’ Can an engineer, no matter how heroic, always serve each of these parties with devotion? Can he or she, in other words, always be loyal to all three? The answer is clearly, ‘No.’“ (Baron 227) Baron says that the answer to this question is clearly “No.” She follows this by giving two conditional examples, the B.F. Goodrich and Ford Pinto engineers, which are very one-sided in agreement to her claim. She believes that you cannot be loyal to everyone all of the time, but when every situation is dissected, her view becomes questionable. Every situation is different, and sometimes it may be difficult to be loyal to all three, but it can definitely be done.
In order to discuss the acts of loyalty and whistle-blowing I must first define what