The Darwinian Rhetoric of Science in Petr Kropotkin'sMutual Aid. A Factor of Evolution(1902)
Year: 2020
Type: article
Abstract: The paper explores the significance of rhetorical argumentation in Petr Kropotkin's treatise Mutual Aid. A Factor of Evolution (1902). It argues that Kropotkin's work is steeped in the tradition of a rhetoric of science that is profoundly Darwinian and in which various forms of analogic reasoning play a central role. After explaining the epistemic function of the metaphors "struggle for existence" and "mutual aid," the paper analyses Kropotkin's argumentation strategies and offers an interpretation of them as a further development and reworking of Darwinian rhetoric.
Author: Riccardo Nicolosi
Institution: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
Language: English
Subfield: History and Philosophy of Science
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,000
OpenAlex ID: W3008948759