Kropotkin: cooperation, not ruthless competition, drives evolution

Responding to social Darwinists who read evolution as pure struggle, Peter Kropotkin surveyed insects, animals and human societies and found mutual aid — cooperation, sharing and solidarity — just as central to survival as competition. He argued that communities which cooperate well tend to outlast those built purely on rivalry, making mutual aid an evolutionary strategy, not just a moral nicety.

— Peter Kropotkin, Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution — 1902
Go deeper: get the book →