Organisms, Life Relations, and Evolution: Inter-Dependencies after Kropotkin's Mutual Aid

Abstract

We examine some implications of Kropotkin’s seminal work on mutual aid as a factor of evolution to analyze how non-competitive life relations are understood in current biological theories. We distinguish two research lines deriving from his work: one of them studies intraspecific relations of altruism and selfishness, and the other one is focused on interspecific symbiotic relations. Furthermore, we use the example of pregnancy and viviparity to extend the analysis to the evolution of novel interorganismic characters. We conclude with a conceptual review of how collaborations and inter-dependencies among organisms shape individual autonomy and sociability in organismal evolutionary biology.