It is rather unfortunate that one aspect of
Darwin's theories were so
revolutionary - the emphasis on
competition. In this view, everything from
biological systems to
social systems improve themselves by internal and external
competition. Since Darwin's theories were first published, a great deal of
research has gone into the study of competition and how it could be best used to
promote "
progress" or the "
advancement of human society" or whatever you want to
call it. As a result, competition is probably understood today much better than
cooperation.
Imagine if Darwin had wrote or been associated with the word "cooperation"
instead of the word "competition." Biological and social research since him
would have gone down an entirely different path. How the interactions between
individual members of wolf packs or bee hives have on the survivability of the
whole would probably be much better understood. Emphasis would have been put on
how the individual cells of our bodies cooperate, rather than how individual
human beings compete with one another. The difference between the words
"competition" and "cooperation" would be somewhat analogous to the difference
between the words "selfish" and "altruistic." Had Darwin happened to go down
the cooperative path, his theories would have probably been much more closely
associated with religion and explaining how religions serve to hold society
together, rather than serving as the antithesis of religion today. Had
his research been focused on cooperation, Hitler would probably never have had the
chance to develop his concept of a super-race, and Ayn Rand would probably never
have come up with her ideals of selfishness. In effect, neither Nazism nor
Objectivism would probably have existed, and there would probably have been much
less protection of trade secrets in economic systems today. Why force competing
groups of individuals to reinvent the wheel if mutual cooperative development
would be much more efficient?
(Note from chatterbox: This write-up is not about
Darwinism but rather the influence he has had on other thinkers.)