competition..
something happened which got me wondering..what exactly is 'healthy competition'? whom is it healthy for? if people have to gain something by causing others to lose something, how does it benefit the loser? capitalism seemed like a nice concept until now.
9 comments:
capitalism is a very different concept ...
it does not include destroying other people or their oppurtunities...
thats selfishness and conceit u have expereinced.
iNFiNiteSaDNeSS has found a regular reader in Priti. Hmmm, who is this Priti?
Priti, selfishness is an inherent capitalist concept, you want something, and at a profit. Effectively you are getting more than you are giving. How can you win if nobody loses? You can avail of an opportunity only if someone else loses it....
What is capitalism?
Capitalism is a social system based on the principle of individual rights. The term capitalism is used here in the broader philosophical political sense, and not in the narrower economic sense, i.e. a free-market.
Isn't capitalism founded upon the evil of selfishness.
Yes and no. Yes, you are correct in that capitalism enshrines self-interest. No, you are completely off the mark when you claim that to act in one's own benefit, that is to act selfishly, is evil.
What does it mean to be selfish?
To be selfish means to look out for one's own interests, i.e. one's own life. To eat to support your life is selfish. To make love to the woman you love is selfish. To have pride in ones accomplishments and character is selfish. To use one's mind in the pursuit of ones own happiness is selfish. By what standard can one judge these selfish things as evil? Only by an irrational one.
By what standard does one judge the good from the evil?
Man's life is the standard of value. All that supports a man's life is good, and all that destroys man's life is evil.
Is selfishness good or evil?
If evil is that which destroys man's life -- and to look after one's self interest -- is to support one's life, then how can selfishness be rationally held to be evil? It cannot.
And how do you differentiate between the 'broader philosophical political sense' and the 'narrower economic sense'? There cannot be one without the other!
I never contested the concepts of good and evil. Good and evil are way too subjective for me. I don't agree with either Kant or the sophists on this.
My point of contention was about the existence of selfishness in it's broadest philosophical sense.
isnt it unfair to say the winner "caused" the loser to lose something by winning??
not that most competitive scenes are fair anyway. most talented pple will still not be winners, its the ones who can "present" themselves well who get it all...we just have to either learn that or learn to live with it.
Well Bhakti, another way to phrase it would be to say the loser did not do anything to stop the winner. You got my point - competition and fairness are not really very coherent concept. Fairness is an aspect of social interaction and in terms of competition - it's just a set of usually commonly agreed upon rules.
Most people live with it, but very few actually examine all the aspects of competition and the terms that they have to bear with...
Hey, I have corrected the spelling the mistake
did i read somewhere that to make love to the woman you love is selfish? what if the woman's pleasure is your objective over and above your own? that's pretty altruistic if you ask me (and most of the women)
infinitesadness, i agree that competition and capitalism suck if you are on the losing side. i love both, competition and capitalism. weed out the losers. make darwin proud.
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