this post was submitted on 24 Jul 2025
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By the principle of charity we can go with your interpretation.
Kropotkin's Mutual Aid directly covers this topic as well. Altruism is natural and occurs throughout our history, arguably cooperation is the basis of our civilization.
Dominating aggressive cultures have attacked and eradicated more peaceful cultures, sure, but you can't call one human nature and the other not.
I guess I don't see what the point is besides defeatism and playing in to the hands of those that want us to continue doing nothing?
I took read Mutual Aid by Kropotkin.
As he puts it in the very title: "Mutual Aid: A Factor in Evolution".
Key being a factor Not the factor
At the time, most of research into evolution revolved around the idea of competition as the driving force in an arms race for resources between organisms. Obviously this is still true, though like Kropotkin observed, we also understand that there is harmony and cooperation both between organisms for each others benefit and in the broader sense of ecosystem equilibrium.
I think it's important to have such discussions anyway because any doubts must be addressed not via faith, but via critical examination, so that we find the more correct reason to maintain revolutionary optimism, it is precisely to defeat defeatism with a resolve forged in fire of scrutiny. That said, I think this is too heated and came across as an attack, I also don't want to play into anyone's hands, I was being needlessly pedantic, I retract my statement.