Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Cooperation Versus Competition In Works Of Russian Evolutionists, Svetlana G. Kirdina-Chandler, John B. Hall

Economics Faculty Publications and Presentations

The article is in Russian.

One of the fundamental assumptions of mainstream economics is that competing agents maximising individual utility comprise the near totality of economic activity. However, this assumption attracts criticism because there is little experimental evidence to suggest that the competitive model is the only form of economic activity. Therefore, searches for other plausible theoretical foundations for economic activity, such as cooperation and mutual aid, are still relevant. In this connection our inquiry reintroduces a debate which occurred in Russia in the 19th and early 20thcenturies. Responses to Charles Darwin’s “The Origin of Species by Means of Natural …

Towards An Intellectual History Of Evolutionary Economics: Competition And Struggle Versus Cooperation And Mutual Aid, John B. Hall, Svetlana Kirdina-Chandler

Economics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Our inquiry considers the origins of Evolutionary Economics by reintroducing a debate that took place in Russia in the 19th and early 20th century. Responses to Charles Darwin’s The origin of Species are considered, especially critiques stressing Darwin’s emphasis upon competition and struggle in natural selection, that can be traced directly to Thomas Robert Malthus. Considering challenging contributions made by several Russian scholars, we place special emphasis upon Peter Kropotkin’s focus on cooperation and “mutual aid” in natural selection and evolution. We then speculate upon the commonality found in the evolutionary views advanced by Kropotkin and his American contemporary, Thorstein …