Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution
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Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution is a book by Peter Kropotkin on the subject of mutual aid, written while he was living in exile in England. It was first published by William Heinemann in London in October 1902. The individual chapters had originally been published in 1890-96 as a series of essays in the British monthly literary magazine, Nineteenth Century.
Written partly in response to Social Darwinism and in particular to Thomas H. Huxley's Nineteenth Century essay, "The Struggle for Existence," Kropotkin's book drew on his experiences in scientific expeditions in Siberia to illustrate the phenomenon of cooperation. After examining the evidence of cooperation in nonhuman animals, "savages," "barbarians," in medieval cities, and in modern times, he concludes that cooperation and mutual aid are as important in the evolution of the species as competition and mutual strife, if not more so.
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[edit] Discussion
Although mostly supportive of Kropotkin's work, evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould offers two criticisms[1].
Firstly, Gould points out that Kropotkin commits "a common conceptual error in failing to recognize that [Darwinian] natural selection is an argument about advantages to individual organisms". However, he also notes that "Kropotkin also (and often) recognised that selection for mutual aid directly benefits each individual in its own struggle for personal success."
Secondly, he also argues more generally against sociobiology, insisting "there are no shortcuts to moral insight" and that the answers to such questions must be found within us, not in nature.
Gould, however, also notes that "Kropotkin’s basic argument is correct. Struggle does occur in many modes, and some lead to Co-operation among members of a species as the best pathway to advantage for individuals." Another scientist, Douglas H. Boucher, argues that "Kropotkin's ideas, though unorthodox, were scientifically respectable, and indeed the contention that mutual aid can be a means of increasing fitness had become a standard part of modern sociobiology." [2]
Daniel P. Todes, in his account of Russian naturalism in the 19th century, concludes that Kropotkin’s work "cannot be dismissed as the idiosyncratic product of an anarchist dabbling in biology" and that his views "were but one expression of a broad current in Russian evolutionary thought that pre-dated, indeed encouraged, his work on the subject and was no means confined to leftist thinkers." [3]
[edit] Editions
- Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution (1955 paperback (reprinted 2005), includes Kropotkin's 1914 preface, Foreword and Bibliography by Ashley Montagu, and The Struggle for Existence, by Thomas H. Huxley ed.). Boston: Extending Horizons Books, Porter Sargent Publishers. ISBN 0-87558-024-6.
- Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution (1998 paperback ed.). London: Freedom Press. ISBN 0-900384-36-0.
[edit] See also
- Altruism and altruism in animals
- Anarchism
- Psychological egoism
- Mutual aid
- Sociobiology
- Evolutionary psychology
- UNESCO 1950 statement, The Race Question
[edit] External links
- Mutual Aid; a factor of evolution at Project Gutenberg
- Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution - HTML version at the Anarchy Archives
Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution - Complete free audiobook version at project LibriVox
[edit] Notes
- ^ Gould, Stephen Jay (June 1997). "Kropotkin was no crackpot". Natural History 106 (June): 12-21. Available online [1]
- ^ "The Idea of Mutualism, Past and Future", pp. 1-28, The Biology of Mutualism: Biology and Evolution (Croom Helm , 1985), Douglas H. Boucher (ed.), p. 17
- ^ Daniel P. Todes, Darwin Without Malthus: The Struggle for Existence in Russian Evolutionary Thought (Oxford University Press, 1989), p. 104, p. 123
