Competition Within Technology: A Study on Competitive Thought and Moral Growth

This chapter consist of a philosophical investigation of competition and its adverse effects on human moral growth. It considers competition as a Heideggerian technology, a mechanism, which ‘enframes’ our thoughts, feelings, and presuppositions about possible solutions to the ecocrisis. The history of competitive thought is scrutinized in terms of violent and mechanistically perceived human nature, evolutive mechanism, and the struggle for existence. Furthermore, economic ideas of scarcity, insatiable wants and needs, freedom, and merits are seen important features of defining what competition is. Competition is defined as the pursuit of scarce resources in a free society, and all of the defining concepts of competition are put under critical scrutiny. The chapter shows that competition is not only a neutral economic mechanism, but includes the human pursuit of superiority that impedes the development of empathy and willingness to help others, and limits the way we perceive the world and opportunities for ecological change.