The division of labor is the outcome of men cooperating.  What is known as society is just the unrestrained division of labor.  We would live in isolation without it.  We cooperate to improve our standard of living.  There would be relatively little inequality in isolation.  Division of labor will intensify inequality, but we are all better off from it.  Amazing improvements are only possible with cooperation.

The example of Crusoe is used.  This is just a thought experiment.  It’s a fictitious construction.  This thought experiment is just to show how man will act alone, and how he will cooperate with another man.  This thought experiment can grow.  Another individual can be added.  To grow it more, add another individual.  You can then have them rob in perpetuity to see the illogical nature of authority.

Cooperation is how man attains his ends.  We know that nations benefit from trade thanks to Ricardo.  However, Mises applied this to individuals.  The division of labor among acting individuals shall be known as the Misesian law of association.  The idea that anybody would’ve fared better in a primitive society lacks thought.  The proponents of these asocial ideas wouldn’t have had the leisure to come up with, and propagate them.

Only under cooperation can many of us live.    Many people have deficiencies which would make them incapable of living in an asocial world.  Civilization is an achievement of the division of labor—cooperation.  There is a level of subsistence which prevents population from growing beyond a certain point.  This level was far lower prior to capitalism.  The population level isn’t determined by some omniscient being.  No man knows the optimum population.

Humans can’t be bred into humans with certain qualities.  There is natural selection, but there isn’t a natural standard.  Statism creates a reverse natural selection.  Any quality standards are arbitrary.  These are likely to be made by someone who won a popularity contest.   The talk of any kind of improvement in man is meaningless.    We must have cooperation to continue to have civilization.  Lack of the division of labor must result in de-civilization.

Reference

Ludwig von Mises; Human Action