Frankenstein society and monster state

Abstract

This work assumes, like Aristotle, that ethics belongs to the individual sphere, not to the political one; and that the role of the State is to seek justice, which means to diminish the iniquities. Ethics does not aim theoretical knowledge, but instead the concept of humanization and the consequent reduction of inequalities. However, nowadays National State does not fulfill its fundamental role of promoting justice and development, behaving as a sort of anti-ethical monster who dehumanizes its people in a vicious cycle of objectifying man and denying him his most basic rights. This paper intends to discuss the aporia in the relationship between ethics and State, in the context of the values crisis, using 18th century Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and his monster as an allegory.