Is cooperation better than competition?
Our society forging ahead, the significance of both cooperation and competition, methodologies by which humanity cope with awkward social encounters, tends to be acceleratingly pivotal to all walks of life. However, whether the effectiveness of cooperation override that of competition has sparked off spirited debate. I personally advocate the belief that, at the status quo, more weight should be attached to the sense of collaboration, the effervescence instilled into a wide spectrum of communities and the spirit profoundly immersed in success.
“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” By which I mean, by no means can the sum of all individual efforts, regardless of how marvelous they might be, prevail over the integrity in terms of stability and rigidity, effectiveness and efficiency. The unity of spider’s net can tie up a lion, albeit fragile a single thread seems to be; a bundle of matches can hardly be broken, albeit brittle a single stick seems to be; cascades of water coalescing together can forge a sea, albeit futile a single drop seems to be.
“Great discoveries invariably involve the cooperation of many minds.” Could you appoint a single scientist to invent a brand-new, cutting-edge devise without others’ assistance? Certainly not! Apparently, there is not a scintilla of possibility that merely one scientist, regardless of how world-renown he is and how ineffable works he has accomplished, can flawlessly combat all hindrances attached to such explorations.
Moreover, cooperation is the catalyst for strengthening social rapports. There is no denying that accompanying the process in which we pay concerted efforts for the sake of obtaining the ultimate goal, mutual fidelity and faith play an paramount role, both of which, therefore, will have been bolstered eventually. Furthermore, the arduous but rewarding process during which people have collaborated will consistently echo in everyone’s mind. The partnership, therefore, will certainly be strengthened once those unforgettable experiences are recalled.
Admittedly, there exist some benefits brought about by competition that cannot be neglected, whereas its more apparent adverse effects tend to be rendered the friction for social burgeoning. Here comes a compelling example: A couple of waves out of phase tend to be cancelled out, whereas a couple in phase can reinforce each other. What is more, competition may also abstract leaders from focusing on the genuine target, thus distort the value of ultimate outputs.
To illustrate, two political parties of a country may give their best shot on how to defeat each other, other than devoting themselves to serving the society. Consequently, who will suffer are the innocent citizens who were promised the idyllic living ambience that are jeopardized by the “political war”. Competition being the developing stumbling block to some extents, the superiority of cooperation will suffice to be reinforced.
Having critically and objectively analyzed all the arguments relating to this dilemma, although some minuscule benefits of competition can not be masked, I will consistently held in high regard the belief that the sense cooperation must be dominant over the sense of competition.