Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution (Dover Books on History, Political and Social Science) - Softcover

Kropotkin, Peter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0486449130 ISBN 13: 9780486449135

Publisher: Dover Publications, 2006

Synopsis

In a work of stunning and well-reasoned scholarship, a famous anarchist posits that the most effective human and animal communities are essentially cooperative, rather than competitive, despite the Darwinian concept of the survival of the fittest. 
 
In this cornerstone of modern liberal social theory, Peter Kropotkin states that the most effective human and animal communities are essentially cooperative, rather than competitive. Kropotkin based this classic on his observations of natural phenomena and history, forming a work of stunning and well-reasoned scholarship. Essential to the understanding of human evolution as well as social organization, it offers a powerful counterpoint to the tenets of Social Darwinism. It also cites persuasive evidence of human nature's innate compatibility with anarchist society.

"Kropotkin's basic argument is correct," noted evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould. "Struggle does occur in many modes, and some lead to cooperation among members of a species as the best pathway to advantage for individuals." Anthropologist Ashley Montagu declared that "Mutual Aid will never be any more out of date than will the Declaration of Independence. New facts may increasingly become available, but we can already see that they will serve largely to support Kropotkin's conclusion that 'in the ethical progress of man, mutual support—not mutual struggle—has had the leading part.'" Physician and author Alex Comfort asserted that "Kropotkin profoundly influenced human biology by his theory of Mutual Aid. . . . He was one of the first systematic students of animal communities, and may be regarded as the founder of modern social ecology."
 

• Peter Kropotkin challenges the dominant beliefs about human nature and proposes a more effective strategy for our survival. Kropotkin formulates a work of stunning scholarship that is essential to the understanding of human evolution and social organization.
• He believed that the most effective human and animal communities are essentially cooperative, rather than competitive, and based this classic on his observations of natural phenomena and history.
• He also cites persuasive evidence of human nature's innate compatibility with anarchist society.
• Physician and author Alex Comfort asserted that "Kropotkin profoundly influenced human biology by his theory of Mutual Aid. . . . He was one of the first systematic students of animal communities, and may be regarded as the founder of modern social ecology."

 

About this title

About the Author

Prince Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin was a Russian zoologist, evolutionary theorist, philosopher, scientist, revolutionary, philologist, economist, activist, geographer, writer, and prominent anarchist. Kropotkin advocated a communist society free from central government and based on voluntary associations between workers. He wrote many books, pamphlets and articles, the most prominent being The Conquest of Bread and Fields, Factories and Workshops, and his principal scientific offering, Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution. He also contributed the article on anarchism to the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition.

Edition details

• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0486449130
• ISBN 13: 9780486449135
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336