Gegenseitige Hilfe – Mutual Help

A vision with instructions for small groups

The concept of the autonomous individual is in crisis. Cooperation and adaptation are necessary. But they require a critical design of living together with others from the individual. The historical concept of the “autonomous individual” is not very helpful.
 
Why help others? Who helps whom? Arthur Engelbert analyses the pros and cons of “mutual help” in order to work out problems and perspectives of mutual cooperation in small groups against the background of current social and cultural developments. It is not the individual, but the group in which people coordinate their motives and interests that is the focus of the discussion. “Mutual help” – an expression dating back to Petro Kropotkin – is a vision that begins in the present. It is based on the mutual selflessness and self-increase of the individual in small groups. Using examples and models, the author explains why “mutual help” is necessary and how it can be achieved.

Paperback: 86 pages
Publisher: Tectum Wissenschaftsverlag; edition: 1., (1. January 2010)
Language: german
ISBN-10: 3828821480
ISBN-13: 978-3828821484