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Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution

$4.49
Author: P. Kropotkin

Paperback:
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN 10: 1546896791
ISBN 13: 978-1546896791

Hardcover:
Publisher: Bibliotech Press
ISBN 10: 1618958844
ISBN 13: 978-1618958846

Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution is a 1902 essay collection by Russian anarchist philosopher Peter Kropotkin. The essays, initially published in the English periodical The Nineteenth Century between 1890 and 1896, explore the role of mutually-beneficial cooperation and reciprocity (or "mutual aid") in the animal kingdom and human societies both past and present. It is an argument against the competition-centred theories of so-called social Darwinism, as well as the romantic depictions of cooperation presented by writers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who argued it was motivated by universal love rather than self-interest. Mutual Aid is considered a fundamental text in anarchist communism, presenting a scientific basis for communism alternative to the historical materialism of the Marxists. Many biologists also consider it an important catalyst in the scientific study of cooperation.