Competition is Real but Limited

In this section Midgley brings up the idea of the lifeboat model and competition and how humans face the idea of these two together. Midgley presents the lifeboat model and how humans deal with dilemmas that are presented when it comes to saving people It deals with the idea of nearness and distant. The idea of nearness is to only save the ones near to you and let the distant ones to fend for themselves. Humans may all be in competition with one another but according to Midgley it doesn't make sense because we are all members of one another. According to Midgley competition will always be present, but she says the lifeboat model doesn't deal with competition because it draws a sharp line at negotiation.

As I said before, Midgley deals with the idea of nearness and distant with regards to completion and who we have closer claims to. The people closet to us of course would get the most respect and the ones distant to us would always be last in line. This relationship of course brings up the idea of selfishness and how we think of only ourselves and the ones closest to us first. Midgley agrees with that idea because that is how most people think in terms of who we care about first. But I like the idea of Midgley when she says that nearness cant be the only way people think about life. I like this idea because when it comes to an event where we don't know someone and they are strangers to us like in the example of The Good Samaritan. For example Midgley states "First sharp competition is not always present. And second, there are plenty of other claims which can, on occasion, outweigh nearness" p. 23