I just read this all (Well, nearly all TL;DR) Society is meant to be italicised - hence the confusion. "If any man consider the present aspects of what is called by distinction 'society', he will see the need of these ethics." 'If you think about what we now call and specify as a society, you'll see these ethics are needed' is basically what he is saying.

… what is called, by distinction, society.... If you say it with pauses, it makes sense. Compare the structure with, ... what is called, by error, society, ..... I think what Emerson means is, "...what is called (in order to distinguish it from other things) 'society'" BUT IT WOULD HELP TO HAVE THE WHOLE PARAGRAPH TO SEE WHAT POINT EMERSON IS MAKING. It sounds as if he is not a fan of society, or does not agree with any standard definition of 'society' - but more context is needed. Actually, this way of saying things has fallen out of fashion: popular 200 years ago, but not common now. Examples: "The legal power of officers, called by distinction the Executive power, is extensive." and ""Hence the word constitution is applied by disctinction to the English form of government." It comes with or without commas. Be careful not to confuse it with, "Her work is marked by distinction, integrity, and profundity." This would be the use of the word distinction to mean superior, excellent, worthy, or accomplished. Emerson, I'm sure is using distinction in its meaning of distinguishing, separating, defining.

He's using the subjunctive, thus no 's' on the 3rd person singular. If any person BE/NEED/CONSIDER... Americans still use the subjunctive a lot. We Brits do a kind of 50/50, using the subjunctive if we want to be formal, and forgetting to use it if we don't. "It is essential we be aware of this!"

In the 1800s the use of 'by distinction' was more common than it is today. In fact, I doubt anybody uses it that way nowadays. We'd be more likely to word it completely differently. "If anybody considers the present aspects of what we call 'society' - they will see the need of these ethics." (I've not used the subjunctive 'consider' as I'm English and we often don't! And I've turned 'he' into 'they' as I often use 'they' to avoid the awful 'he or she' structure. Finally, I've put society as 'society' as I think it is useful here, and will save me having to think of a wordier way of saying it without the inverted commas.

Because it's badly written? I mean, the extract has a grammar mistake (no third person 's' on 'consider'), and is a rather incoherent structure.