Midgley - Competition

In chapter 2, Midgley refers to the lifeboat model and immediately states how we have two options. One is to heave all people into the boat, thus saving everyone. The other option is to let the whole boat sink, thus saving no one. These two options seem like the simple and obvious answers to the dilemma, however, as Midgley further expresses - it is not such a simple dilemma after all. She states that the lifeboat model attempts to standardize our moral relations to our fellow-beings around a single simple model (19). I agree with this, in that such a prominent issue in today's world can not be dealt with by a model. Other aspects need to be considered and one must not focus on one solution.

Midgley focuses a lot on competetion in today's society and how ultimately, the humans are in competetion with animals. As described in the story about the elephant killing, humans seek to kill their compettion because it is seen as an opponent. In my opinion, it reveals that everyone is trying to be saved which is why everyone struggles to survive, even if it results in taking another life. However, Midgley goes on to say that humans often help their family or people they are close with, yet we are all in the same boat and competeting with eachother. That being said, it does seem rather silly that we are incompetition; what is the point of discriminating between animals, random people, and close relationships in terms of competeting with these people/animals. If we are all in the same position and dealing with the same issues, it seems like we are, in essence, relying on one another to survive. As Midgley states, "We are indeed individuals, but ones who could not exist if we had not been brought up in groups..." (21).

I found it interesting how Midgley compared the relationships with others through the concentric arrangements. To me, it seems like all the problems get back to individual's greed and self-centered nature. As Midgley put it, the problem stems from not understanding the claims of "yours" and learning how conflicts can be arbitrated (22-23). I also found it interesting how she explained that it seems in emergency situations we would stop to help others but in everyday life we tend to draw the line and decide who we want to pay attention to/help. This again gets back to the competition level and leads to relative dismissal which ultimately leads to absolute dismissal. What is needed is a sense of compatibility among all creatures and the understanding that competition will only lead to destruction.