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What Darwin really said about cooperation in animals...by Gert Korthof first published IntroductionIn a popular lecture about evolution and altruism Professor Jan van Hooff quoted Darwin as follows:"In the long history of mankind those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed". (no source)Professor Jan van Hooff grew up in Burgers' Zoo, Arnhem, the Netherlands, and was for more than 20 years professor in animal behaviour (especially chimpanzees) at the Utrecht University. He is known for his numerous popular lectures on chimp behaviour and evolution. He appeared many times on Dutch TV. He was elected as a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). This is generally regarded as the highest form of recognition for a Dutch scientist. Among his students was Frans de Waal, now director of the Living Links Center at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center. His point was that the 'struggle for existence' and competition never were the whole truth for Darwin, but that Darwin recognized the importance of collaboration in evolution. Collaborate MisquoteHaving attended many lectures of Professor van Hooff, and noticing he was not always careful, I decided to do some fact checking. I searched Darwin Online. This website contains all of Darwin's published and unpublished writings including thousands of his letters. This huge amount of documents can be searched for the occurrence of a word with one click. A very powerful feature. The surprising result: Darwin never wrote the quoted text. Even more amazing, the very word 'collaborate' does not occur in all the works of Darwin, nor variations of the quote. 'Collaboration' does occur, but it refers to collaboration among publishers and authors, not 'collaboration' in the animal world. So, the word 'collaborate' does not occur in Darwin's main work The Origin of Species in which he sets out his theory of evolution. With hindsight it is not surprising I think, because humans collaborate and animals cooperate (if at all).If the quote is not from Darwin, then what is the source? The quote is extremely easy to find on the internet. The quote even occurs in books [1]. But never is the exact source given, no book title, no page number. That should raise your eyebrows in the first place. Certainly if you are a professor. If you are not familiar with the webiste Darwin Online, the quote is also present in a slightly modified form on the website Six things Darwin never said – and one he did [2]. CompetitionCould it be that Darwin did not wrote the quoted text exactly as it is, but that he meant something like that? Darwin's main work is The Origin of Species in which he sets out his theory of evolution by natural selection. Some authors wrote books about altruism and cooperation but undeservedly ignored The Origin of Species! [3]. The complete title of that book reads: 'On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life'. If the title means anything, it says that the Struggle for Life is an important part of his theory. The third chapter is titled: 'Struggle for Existence'. In the final chapter 'Recapitulation and Conlusion' Darwin wrote:"As natural selection acts by competition, it adapts the inhabitants of each country only in relation to the degree of perfection of their associates". (p.472 Recapitulation)In The Origin of Species the phrase 'Struggle for Existence' occurs 30 times, and 'competition' 36 times. The phrase "the battle for life" or "the battle of life" occuros 6 times, and "the war of nature" 5 times. In later works the expressions don't disappear [4]. A good illustration of the fact that cooperation (self-sacrifice or altruism) posed a problem for Darwin is the existence of sterile individuals in insect communities. Sterile individuals abandon their own reproduction and this is –in his own words– potentially fatal to his theory [5]. If you have defined natural selection by out-reproducing other individuals of the same species, then you have a problem with sterile individuals. It is far from obvious that sterile individuals are the outcome of natural selection. Apart from ? the words, Darwin 's theory required the concepts for his theory to work... So, for Darwin, competition is crucial for his theory. .. Natural selection and competition are almost synonymous. The individual is important. Natural selection acts for the benefit of the individual [6]. Darwin versus Evolution todayToday, Evolution textbooks write extensively about altruism, cooperation, coevolution, and symbiosis. Rightly so. But the words 'altruism', 'symbiosis' and 'cooperation' do not occur in The Origin. We should not retrofit The Origin with these words, nor photoshop Darwin. We should not ascribe with the benefit of hindsight these concepts to Darwin. The theory of evolution evolved since Darwin.Useful to the communityHowever, Darwin did write about cooperation in The Origin (1859), but used phrases such as:
NEUTERS. – Imperfectly developed females of certain social insects (such as Ants and Bees), which perform all the labours of the community. Hence they are also called workers. partly discussed in Difficulties of Theory (!) and partly in ch Instincts he viewed that as a potential falsification of this theory! === citaat: "This difficulty, though appearing insuperable, is lessened, or, as I believe, disappears, when it is remembered that selection may be applied to the family, as well as to the individual, and may thus gain the desired end. " if everybody cooperates with everybody, then no nat sel can occur, or: differential reproduction. Anyway: how does a lion cooperate with an antilope? not everything is symbiotic. Darwin said if any organism has adaptations compeltely for the benefit of another organism my theory would fail. Evolution promotes selfishness and cruelty... hm... zoek: "my theory" Life is formed by death cooperation? koekoek, imposters (DA!) An impostor (also spelled imposter) is a person who pretends to be somebody else, Conclusionhttp://korthof.blogspot.nl/2014/11/fake-darwin-citaten-circuleren-op.htmlhttp://korthof.blogspot.nl/2014/11/wat-heeft-darwin-werkelijk-gezegd-over.html. Notes
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