Mutual Aid
A Factor of Evolution
by Peter Kropotkin · first published 1891
67% recommend33% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Argues that cooperation, not just competition, drives survival in animals and human societies, countering social-darwinist readings of evolution. Suits readers wanting an anarchist, anthropological case; free online.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution is a 1902 collection of anthropological essays by Russian naturalist and 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 theories of social Darwinism that emphasize competition and survival of the fittest, and against the romantic depictions by writers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who th
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…animals to evaluate and rank each other Not at all. Competition is not the norm in the natural world. There's the entire field of ethology to study if you'd like to know more. If you need a quick intro, "Mutual Aid" by Peter Kropotkin is really dated science-wise (it's almost 120 years old) but is still a pretty good read. If you're into TV stuff, i'd recommend Adam Curtis' series "The trap" and "The century of…
on “The NFT market bubble has popped?” ↗…intros) By Alexander Berkman https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/alexander-berkman-wh... Anarchism and Other Essays by Emma Goldman https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/emma-goldman-anarchi... Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution by Peter Kropotkin https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/petr-kropotkin-mutua... And not particularly an ideology book, but an interesting firsthand recount by George Orwell…
on “Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the 21st Century, in 20 minutes (2014) [video]” ↗Mutual Aid by Kropotkin Was brought up in a very toxicly pop-libertarian household, and it really opened my eyes to how much all of nature (including human culture more specifically) depends on working together…
on “Ask HN: What books changed the way you think about almost everything?” ↗>We are competitive because our survival depends on it Says who? Our survival, as does the survival of almost all life, actually depends on Cooperation. I'd highly recommend checking out the book Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution by Pyotr Kropotkin. You can find it for free online (legally, its public domain) https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/4341 .
on “Ask HN: What are we doing wrong?” ↗Fiction: The City of Brass - epic fantasy based on the medieval Islamic world (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32718027-the-city-of-bra...) Nonfiction: Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity in This Crisis (and the Next) - self-explanatory title (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54654726-mutual-aid) Crying in H-Mart: memoir by Michelle Zauner (leader of the band Japanese…
on “Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?” ↗Another classic work from Kropotkin is Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution. It's more anthropology than economics, but it is an absolutely fundamental work for anarchism.
on “Kropotkin's 'The Conquest of Bread'” ↗I recommend Kropotkin's book about Mutual Aid regarding this topic. Disregarding his obvious political affiliation he is one of the first critics of the then-emerging social-darwinist readings of animal behaviour with regards to Evolution and therefore…
on “Cats learn the names of their friend cats in their daily lives” ↗I produced a free ebook edition of Mutual Aid for Standard Ebooks last year: https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/peter-kropotkin/mutual-aid It's very readable and quite interesting. It aimed to have a veneer of science, when the science of animals…
on “Pëtr Kropotkin and Mutual Aid” ↗…trouble understanding where it originates. If you don't mind me asking, where did you get this idea from? As far as I know, no Communist espouses it. For a counter to your point, take a look at Kropotkin's Mutual Aid: A Factor in Evolution[0] however your very premise is flawed; Communism does not mean the absolute equality of everyone, as even a child can see that people are different and have different strengths.…
on “Why Science is Better with Communism? The Case of Sci-Hub (2016) [video]” ↗…coerce people into NOT sharing, like when school teachers will try to make you believe copying is cheating despite your guts telling that helping one another is perfectly fine. You could read Kropotkin on Mutual Aid, if you're interested on more information (though outdated by over a century of research) on how selfishness is definitely not a natural state of things. > This is an issue with America, not capitalism.…
on “Just Be Rich” ↗Considering us as individuals is to an extent an ideological way to view the world. On the contrary, what you said can be said about cooperation and sharing too. See Kropotkin's Mutual Aid.
Sholzenitzen's Gulag. Twains Pudd'head Wilson and "The Corruption of Hadleyburg" Ayn Rand et al "Capitalism, The Unknown Ideal" Peter Kropotkin "Mutual Aid: A Factor in Evolution" Tannehill, Morse "The Market for Liberty" Albert J. Nock "Our Enemy the State" Stephan Wolfram "A New Kind of Science"
on “Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?” ↗You may want to look into Kropotkin (Conquest of the bread, Mutual Aid) or maybe Max Stirner (The Ego and Its Own).
on “Friedrich Hayek on Evolution and Spontaneous Order (1983) [video]” ↗> In fact most people instinctively help others - even giving them a little push along. You may like the book Mutual Aid by Kropotkin.
on “Crypto-Anarchism” ↗There is a beautiful book in the same line of thought, but from 1902 and by a classic anarchist, Kropotkin [1] and also a comment about it by Stephen Jay Gould [2]: [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_Aid:_A_Factor_of_Evolut... [2] https://www.marxists.org/subject/science/essays/kropotkin.ht...
on “Evolutionary biologist slays the beast of Individualism” ↗