Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution - Softcover

Kropotkin, Peter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 168422070X ISBN 13: 9781684220700

Publisher: Martino Fine Books, 2017

Synopsis

2017 Reprint of 1919 Edition.  “Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution” is a 1902 work by Russian anarchist philosopher Peter Kropotkin. Kropotkin explores 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-centered 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.

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: Martino Fine Books
• Publication date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 168422070X
• ISBN 13: 9781684220700
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 294