(X.1) Some animals, including human, tend to come together top live in collective groups. Examples include flocks of birds, herds of buffalo, prides of lions, school of fish, colonies of bees, a murder of crows, a gaggle of geese, a band of gorillas, a troop of kangaroos, etc. Humans band together in collective groups. as members of families; residents of neighborhoods; and citizens of cities, counties , states, nations, and international unions. Overlapping these are groups of individuals centered around a common theme such as social activities, politics, religion, professions, culture, business, industry, sports, and hobbies, to name a few. Each of these groups, be they man or beast, were formed to promote collective interests.

(X.2) Every collective group has what we shall call a canon whether it is written or simply retained in memory in its members brains. The canon always has a least three parts: Its purpose for existing as established in time past, its objectives for achievement in time future, and its rules of conduct for time present. The charter reflects the de jure collective morality of the collective group.

(X.3) When collective groups come together voluntarily it should be expected that the collective morality should coincide with the morality of each of the individuals Moral dissension should be minimal but some morals of some members of the collective group may vary and collective subgroups may develop within the overall collective group. And example of this is that the collective group of Christian Protestants has estimated 35 thousand denominational collective subgroups. The Christian Catholics have 24 denominational collective subgroups. Yet all of these denominations hold many morals in common and vary only in practice of their religion.

(X.4) The collective morality of a collective group is held as acceptable behavior of individuals within the collective group for the benefit of the collective group but not necessarily for the benefit of each individual in the collective group. That is collective morality is imposed on some individuals of the collective group against their wishes.

(X.4.1) Imposition of collective morality on individuals may be by either consensus of the members of the collective group or by enforcement by an agency of authority imposing its morality on the collective group.

(X.4.1.1) History is replete with examples of imposed collective morality, none more so than organized religions. The Roman Catholic Church imposed it moral canon on most of Europe society from the time it was adopted as the state religion of the Roman Empire until the Protestant Reformation some 500 years later. Indeed, the Crusades in which Arabs and Jews were slaughtered were generally considered by Christians to be morally acceptable and desirable. In time present the Islamic religion imposes it moral canon on the state of Iran. Similarly, secular moral canon were imposed by the Nazis on the citizens of Germany during the Third Reich. At the height of the Third Reich, the persecution of Jews as generally considered by the majority of German society to be morally acceptable. In all cases, persuasion to accept a canon is accomplished through the creation of emotions for or against some perception of reality whether it is true or false.

(X.4.1.2) Collective morality by de facto consensus is also common. As an example, slavery was generally considered to an acceptable as collective morality in almost every ancient civilization in time past and it is only in time present that government acting as an agency of authority has dictated that slavery is now not acceptable de jure in collective groups over which it holds sovereignty.

(X.4.1.3) Conflicts occur among collective groups existing under the aegis of differing collective moralities. Examples include the conflict between Sunni and Shia factions of Islam, the Republican and Democratic political parties in the United States, and the Palestinians and Israelis in present day Israel.

(X.4.2) Collective morality is subject to change by either consensus of the members of the collective group or by enforcement by an agency of authority imposing the change or by both.

(X.4.3) Collective morality is commonly encoded in canon that are created and are enforced by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior of both individuals and of collective groups and subgroups. . These rules we shall call laws.

(X.4.3.1) Neither some not all morals in a specific set of collective morals are enforced by either civil or governmental authorityy, but are enforced fear of social disdain and derision by and even divorce from the collective group which can be as powerful as law. In both cases, failure to abide by canon can result in banishment of individuals from the collective group. Examples include murders who are banished from the collective group by serving life in prison apart from the collective group for committing murder. Others include both the Jewish practice of cherem which prescribes the total exclusion of a person from the Jewish community as well as excommunication of individuals by the Catholic Church.

(X.4.4) Any codification of collective morality is fraught with ambiguity because each individual in a collective group can and do maintain different concepts and evaluations of any specific moral included in it. No two perceptions of a moral or morals are identical.

(X.4.5) Collective morality can be induced in individuals through repeated exposure to rote learning of the canon of collective morality. As an example, an adult is more likely to live in accordance with the collective morality of the religion to which they were repeatedly exposed as a child. A child growing up in a family with little or no obeisance of the collective morality of the collective group in which they live are more likely to live life as an adult not in conformity with the collective morality of the collective group within which they live.

(X.5) The agent of authority varies widely among collective groups as does their means of gaining the power of authority.

(X.5.1) In the case of an individual being the agent of authority, no definitive means of attaining power is known. Kings may gain power by conquest, acclamation, election, or inheritance. Dictators rely heavily on propaganda, fear, violence, promise and hope to gain power. But, then so do all politicians in freely elected governments use many of the same devices. The best that can be said of an individual acting as the sole agent of power is that (a) they happen to be in the right place at the right time and (b) they have a personal desire for power.

(X.5.2) In all collective groups some individual always emerges as the greatest bearer of power. In a constitutional democracy, that individual is elected either directly by the people or by their elected representatives. But even in a true democracy some person is elected as the agent of authority to carry the wishes of the majority of the collective group.

(X.6) An agent of authority always emerges in a collective group less that collective group ceases to exist in due course.

(X.7) The foundation on which canon is built is morals.

Summation

(X) Humans are largely social animals with each social group developing a canon of acceptable behavior for both individuals in the social group and for the social group itself. An agent of authority always emerges within the social group to enforce the canon. No social group can persist without an agent of authority lest it decay into a state of anarchy.