Ethical implications of anticipating and witnessing societal collapse: report of a discussion with international scholars

The prospect of impending societal collapse raises important ethical questions, both about the role of ethics in how our institutions make decisions related to societal disruption and collapse and also about how anticipating it might cause our own values to shift. To stimulate reflection and map out some of the views held on questions related to societal disruption and collapse, including risks associated with new arguments about ethics and the scope for useful action, a focus group on behalf of the international Scholars Warning was convened. A series of questions guided the discussions, with some participants providing additional written responses. In this paper a diversity of the views expressed are presented before some brief analysis for each question, before the authors’ reflections on emerging themes. This paper is intended as a basis for further discussions about ethics and values among a broader population of social activists and decision-makers who might influence how societal disruption and collapse is addressed or experienced.