We live in a highly competitive society, each of us trying to outdo the other in wealth, in popularity or social prestige, in dress, in scholastic grades or golf scores. [...] One is often tempted to say that conflict, rather than cooperation, is the great governing principle of human life.

So the first biological lesson of history is that life is competition. Competition is not only the life of trade, it is the trade of life — peaceful when food abounds, violent when the mouths outrun the food. Animals eat one another without qualm; civilized men consume one another by due process of law. Co-operation is real, and increases with social development, but mostly because it is a tool and form of competition; we co-operate in our group — our family, community, club, church, party, “race,” or nation — in order to strengthen our group in its competition with other groups. Competing groups have the qualities of competing individuals: acquisitiveness, pugnacity, partisanship, pride. Our states, being ourselves multiplied, are what we are; they write our natures in bolder type, and do our good and evil on an elephantine scale. We are acquisitive, greedy, and pugnacious because our blood remembers millenniums through which our forebears had to chase and fight and kill in order to survive, and had to eat to their gastric capacity for fear they should not soon capture another feast. War is a nation’s way of eating. It promotes co-operation because it is the ultimate form of competition. Until our states become members of a large and effectively protective group they will continue to act like individuals and families in the hunting stage.

Cooperation is for safety, security and companionship. Competition is for personal growth and status.

Every society is built upon competition and cooperation.

A good society maximizes positive-sum competition and voluntary cooperation.

Little by little, a new consciousness is awakening humanity to its inner needs. The old, competitive spirit dies hard, but nevertheless a new spirit of Cooperation is likewise to be seen. This augurs well for the future, for it is by Cooperation alone that mankind will survive; by Cooperation alone that the new civilization will be built; by Cooperation only that men can know and demonstrate the inner truth of their divinity... Competition has led man to the precipice; Cooperation alone will help him find the path.

In some form or other the rivalry of men will continue to be employed as an instrument of the general welfare. It is not important that the arrangements which currently are set down as the competitive system will endure. It is important that the spirit of competition shall be enhanced and not impaired. There must be an outlet for the creative urge, free play for the dynamic drive. In a society, as in the physical world, motion is inseparable from life.

In a democratic society we must live cooperatively, and serve the community in which we live, to the best of our ability. For our own success to be real, it must contribute to the success of others.

It is the main function of any economic system to produce cooperation that is quite independent of affection or goodwill, and it is one function of political organizations to maintain conditions in which this is possible. But if we accept the centrality of self-love and confined generosity, we must, as a corollary, accept competition and some degree of conflict between individuals and between groups.

Competition has been shown to be useful
up to a certain point and no further,
but cooperation, which is the thing
we must strive for today,
begins where competition leaves off.

Competition is important, not only because of its ability to promote economic efficiency but also because of the zest that it gives to life. Here we encounter one of the many ambivalences that characterizes our views about market economies: Competition is good, but we have our doubts about excessive competition. We encourage cooperation within teams but competition among them. We frown upon people who are excessively competitive. Yet the competitive market environment may encourage and bring out these aspects of individuals' personalities. If ruthlessly competitive people are successful, such behavior may be imitated. At the same time those who are (excessively) cooperative may be taken advantage of, derogated as pansies. Accordingly such behavior will be discouraged.

Any system that is built on a false understanding of human nature is doomed to fail. Building a society where the primary objective is to protect one’s fragile self-esteem from the dangers of competition will only lead to a society of weakness, entitlement, and apathy. Life is necessarily competitive; society is necessarily hierarchical. It does no one any favors to pursue a utopian vision of society where no one’s feelings are hurt.

Part One... discusses at length the opposing ways of approaching and dealing with life: co-operating or competing. It traces the competitive spirit back to the animal kingdom and shows its gradual replacement by co-operation as humanity advances. Many of the problems of the modern world are seen in this context and co-operation is shown as the way, in line with our soul’s intent, to solve them.

If we look back at our history, we can think of competition as it relates to the animal kingdom. It is natural for animals to compete for food in the struggle for survival... But we are not just animals. Although we owe our bodies and certain of our instincts to the animal kingdom, we are souls in incarnation. As souls, something other than competition comes into play in the relationships between men and men, between groups, between nations... With the advent of agrarian civilizations, the necessity for competition diminished. Competition in terms of warfare still took place very often, but the very fact of turning to settled agrarian culture led man away from the necessity of chasing each other, or animals, for the pot. A different aspect evolved: co-operation. Tribes grew in size, little market towns grew up, trading took place... You cannot build a town or a trading station without co-operation. You cannot enlarge the range of human activities and become creative without cooperation. If some are digging the soil, it allows others to build the houses. If some are building the houses, it allows others to play the flute or the harp. These differentiations and specializations enrich human society, civilization and culture. Without the spirit of co-operation none of that richness can be fostered. It needs the sense of oneself as part of a group, a community, brothers and sisters sharing the resources of a particular place, and enjoying, therefore, the fruits of this cooperative interaction.

Social cooperation is our key for survival and reproduction.