“does the life of andrew carnegie support or counter the philosophy of social darwinism?

I would say that the life of Andrew Carnegie definitely supports the philosophy of social Darwinism. Social Darwinism proposes the idea of the survival of the fittest, the same way it works for living beings in nature. Here, in the society, only those with the necessary set of skills are going to survive, or thrive, and climb the social ladder, the way Carnegie did. He became one of the "fittest" in the society, and proved to be capable of survival in such a harsh business world.