Competition

as 'process of petitioning against'

Morphological analysis

• Etymon: Competition from Latin conpetō: 'petition against'
• Morpheme breakdown: con + petō → 'petition against'
• Functional cognate: conpetō: 'try against'

Essential definition

The process of petitioning against.

Semantic context

• Conventional sense: To be in rivalry with another for the same thing, position, or reward; to contend. (Note: Semantic drift from essential meaning)
• Essential meaning (my usage): process of petitioning against

Philosophical significance

This definition allows one to construct a decisive contrast between competition and co-petition, derive a logical proof that, existentially, competition is inherently self-destructive, condemn it on existential grounds as antithetical to existence, and ultimately present co-petition as the only life-affirming alternative.

Usage in this lexicon

When I use the word competition in my work, I mean exactly 'process of petitioning against'. This definition:

• establishes a foundational dichotomy by creating a clear and binary opposition to 'co-petition' which means 'petitioning together' where this sharp contrast is the central axis around which the entire argument revolves and makes the Gospel's ethic immediately understandable;
• reveals the inherent antagonism where the phrase 'petitioning against' linguistically and philosophically frames competition as inherently adversarial which means it is not just striving for something but doing so in opposition to another and frames the relationship as zero-sum and conflict-based;
• exposes the self-terminating logic where this definition allows the text to logically argue that competition is a 'closed logic' because if the goal is to petition against others until they are eliminated then the ultimate result is a nullity with no 'others' left which ends the dynamic field of existence itself;
• enables moral and existential condemnation where defining it this way categorically labels unbounded competition as 'the ethic of death' and shows that 'petitioning against' leads logically to foreclosure and annihilation which makes it fundamentally anti-life and not just inefficient;
• elevates 'co-petition' as the sacred alternative where by giving competition a negative definition the morally and existentially superior nature of "co-petition" is thrown into relief which means if one is against then the other is with and aligns cooperation naturally with life and open-ended flourishing;
• clarifies the limited role of healthy competition where this definition helps compartmentalize where competition is acceptable such as in games and sports by arguing that these are bounded exceptions precisely because they are not the unbounded 'process of petitioning against' applied to life itself;
• provides a memorable conceptual hook where the wordplay of com-petition versus co-petition and the clear and opposing prepositions of against versus together make the core thesis highly memorable and sticky and transform a common word into a specific and loaded term;
• roots the argument in first principles where the definition shifts the debate from practical outcomes to ontological first principles concerning the nature of being and frames the issue as what competition is at its core which is a process that seeks to end the very condition of difference that makes existence possible.

Related terms

• Co-petition

Sources

• Wiktionary

*This definition follows morphological essentialism principles. See the Methodology for details.