Exchange, Honesty, Ethics, 2

First, it’s an obvious matter of justice; justice is sacred, individuals do have an innate sense of justice, and that has an influence on the morale, too: not only criminals do not produce, but even worse criminals and injustice discourage and destroy both production and exchange; every time an out exchange occurs and a product is exchanged for less or for nothing, the producer of the product is punished both by abuse and by lowering morale, instead of being rewarded for his or her contribution to the amount of products available, hence such amount in society is damaged, shrunk and spoilt, while conversely committing out exchange gets rewarded and thus it results in its legitimacy promoted.
Second, it’s a less obvious matter of arithmetic: in a criminal world, for each criminal exchange taking place only one product was produced: that of the honest producer robbed by the criminal; in a fair world, for each fair exchange taking place two products were produced: those of both honest producers; in an ideal world, for each exchange in abundance taking place more than two products were produced: those of both honest producers delivering something more than they receive; the number of exchanges being equal, the differences in the amounts of products existing and available in the society in each case are self−evident. And we have seen how both the level and the potential of survival for all consists in the survival factors produced.

Hence honesty was born. Individuals realized the importance to protect themselves not only as individuals but also as a group, a community, a society. Because the net result of individuals taking without giving is less survival factors for the community as a whole.

Basically dishonesty consists of a questionable advantage for the dishonest individual in exchange for a far greater damage for the group. The advantage is questionable because individuals who steal and stolen products get degraded by the theft, and all the individuals, including the dishonest one, are damaged because they are part of the group and live in it.