ABSTRACT
Can a collective ethics exist? The economic neoclassical theory is void of any ethical connotation since it is postulated that the vector sum of all agents optima constitutes the ultimate form of distributional efficiency, Pareto optimum. Thus, when we reject the axiomatic structure, we end up in a situation where a collective ethics must exist, but this has to be different from the ethics of individuals. In this chapter we mainly discuss the structural basis for collective ethics: collective decisions in relation to cultural and social homogeneity, knowledge/understanding in relation to increasing complexification of the society.
We also discuss the classical government forms of monarchy, oligarchy and democracy, starting with a debate refereed by Herodotus between Otanes, Megabyzos and Darios, three Persian nobilities in 486 BC. From their speeches we derive the basic structure of the three government forms.
We end the chapter by discussing dynamic factors which lead to saturation, anomie and alienation, which may cause substructures which in the long run may lead to social unease and breakdowns. We also arrive at a sort of baseline ethics for the collective bodies, namely that the subjectness of the human subject which is to be regarded as a local final cause can never be questioned.
