Mutual Aid and Evolution

the evolutionary theory of Piotr Kropotkin

Abstract

Science is not value-free. Piotr Kropotkin was a renowned naturalist and became the most widely read anarchist of the 20th century. My aim in this essay is to analyze his evolutionary thought as presented in his main work Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution (1902). I outline the central theses of Kropotkin’s evolutionary theory, placing them in their context and examining them in light of current knowledge. Kropotkin argued that (1) species are not fixed, that is, they change over time; (2) this change does not follow a divine plan; (3) species share a common ancestor; (4) the environment produces and selects advantageous traits in organisms; (5) the “struggle for life” is more beneficial when organisms associate rather than compete; and (6) the advantages of association (mutual aid) give it a progressive role in evolution, providing the basis for ethics and for anarchist communism. The cooperative and progressive nature of Kropotkin’s theory offers an excellent model for addressing the role of values in science.