Quote:
“I do not think that ordinary human beings can be happy without competition, for competition as been, ever since the origin of Man, the spur to most serious activities. We should not, therefore, attempt to abolish conpetition, but only see to it that it takes forms which are not too injurious. Primitive competition was a conflict as to which should murder the other man and his wife and children; modern competition in the shape of war still takes this form. But in sport, in literary and artistic rivalry, and in constituional policies it takes forms which do very little harm and yet offer a fairly adequate outlet for our combative instincts. What is wrong in this respect is not that such forms of competition are bad, but that they form too small a part of the lives of ordinary men and women (Russell 9).”
Response:
Prior to this quote, Russell had given an extremely detailed summary of how fierce competition had affected the development and lifestyle of the human race in the past. The quote I chose is the point where she switches from “they say” to “I say” in her perspective. She clearly states her claim that competition is a necessary motivation in an individual’s life. She achieves this by giving background insight on the extreme type of competition in the past, usually violent (war), and comparing it to a stimulating type of conpetition that allows people to challenge each others’ beliefs and ideas. And with this, I agree with what she says because I think competition is the reason why the world has been developing so rapidly (ie. Iphone vs. Samsung product upgrades etc.) and why we, now have an easier and more comfortable life than those who lived in the past.
Ariana Lee
I completely agree that competition is the reason as to why humans are able to develop, and keep on developing. Without contests, we would live in a society that is not as advanced as it is today, if we were able to make it thus far. People live off of competition. It has become one of their many sources of entertainment. The Super Bowl that will take place on Sunday is an example of this. Companies, fans, and workers have invested much time and money in a grand match that may or may not leave an imprint on the world. Any competition, big or small, will fuel anyone who decides to eat it up.
I definitely agree with the idea that competition pushes people and societies to become the best version of themselves. Think of how unfulfilling and passionless our lives would be if we were always the best at what we did. What would be the motivation to continue improving? This is one of the reasons why competition is so important especially in businesses where a lack of competition often results in subpar products, simply because they don’t have to worry about a rival company creating something better. This is also why the government makes an effort to create legislation that eliminates monopolies in business.
Matthew Epstein