What is the difference between survival of the fittest and struggle for existence

Well done publius! Great to see mention of cooperation AND competition as possible means for reaching our moral ends. Balance is indeed the key as you say in your title.

Great to see this message coming through from The Evolution Institute now as opposed to some messages from others on this site in the past. There are those creatures who manipulate the natural world to their own ends. Ants, human gardeners, breeders, and other unrealized manipulators. Better teeth, claws, and tool making provide advantages until the next catastrophic event eliminates those advantages.

Hey everyone. I recommend buying a terrific video series by Dr. Is Darwin speaking of two life forces, that of togetherness or dependency and that of differentiation or independence? Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam.

Learn how your comment data is processed. Hit enter to search or ESC to close. Publius In the spirit of the Federalist Papers , Publius is a collective pseudonym for the group of people organizing this collection of essays. Get Updates. David Sloan Wilson , Nicholas R. Jordan October 4, Madhusudan Katti July 5, Daniel J.

Kruger April 20, Steve Davis says:. Forget Rambo, think Einstein or Gandhi. What we see in the wild is not every animal for itself. Cooperation is an incredibly successful survival strategy. Indeed it has been the basis of all the most dramatic steps in the history of life. Complex cells evolved from cooperating simple cells.

Multicellular organisms are made up of cooperating complex cells. Superorganisms such as bee or ant colonies consist of cooperating individuals.

When cooperation breaks down, the results can be disastrous. When cells in our bodies turn rogue, for instance, the result is cancer. Looked at from this point of view, the concept of the survival of the fittest could be used to justify socialism rather than laissez-faire capitalism. Then again, the success of social insects could be used to argue for totalitarianism.

Is cannibalism fine because polar bears do it? Is killing your brother or sister fine because nestlings of many bird species do it? Is murdering your children fine because mice sometimes eat their own pups?