Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution

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Theoretical works The Conquest of Bread Fields, Factories and Workshops Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution Anarchism and Other Essays Now and After The Right To Be Greedy Post-Scarcity Anarchism
Related topics Anarchism Autonomism Communization Council communism Left communism Libertarian socialism Social anarchism

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, in pre-feudal societies and medieval cities, and in modern times, he concluded that cooperation and mutual aid are the most important factors in the evolution of species and the ability to survive.

Discussion

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 by no means confined to leftist thinkers."

Kropotkin pointed out the distinction between the direct struggle among individuals for limited resources (generally called competition) and the more metaphorical struggle between organisms and the environment (tending to be cooperative). He therefore did not deny the competitive form of struggle, but argued that the cooperative counterpart has been underemphasized: "There is an immense amount of warfare and extermination going on amidst various species; there is, at the same time, as much, or perhaps even more, of mutual support, mutual aid, and mutual defense...Sociability is as much a law of nature as mutual struggle." However, Kropotkin did consider cooperation as a feature of the most advanced organisms (e.g., ants among insects, mammals among vertebrates) leading to the development of the highest intelligence and bodily organization.

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 (2009 paperback ed.). London: Freedom Press. ISBN 1-90449-110-3. 

See also

• Altruism
• Altruism in animals
• Anarchism
• Evolutionary psychology
• Mutual aid
• Psychological egoism
• Sociobiology

References

External links

• Works related to Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution at Wikisource
• 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 - PDF version at the Complementary Currency Resource Center
• Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution - Complete free audiobook version at project LibriVox
• Iain McKay Mutual Aid: An Introduction and Evaluation, AK Press, Edinburgh, 2010