An Illusion of Competition – History and Criticism of Competitive Fatalism
Abstract
Competition is widely regarded as an inevitable part of the human condition. The history of competitive thought is important as educators are increasingly pressured to adopt competitive thought in education. This study, therefore, explains how competitive thought has emerged in modern history. Competition is defined using concepts, such as the struggle for existence, scarcity, infinite wants and needs, freedom, resources and desert. This study states that competition is not part of the universal human condition but part of the western modern culture and worldview adopted in politics, liberal philosophy, popular biology and economics. Competition is deemed to be an illusion or culturally shaped idea. Educators, therefore, need to adopt a wider view of social life to educate balanced and morally capable human beings. We can make democratic decisions about competition, sharing and collaboration. The current eco-social situation of the twentieth-first century requires learning non-competitive virtues.
