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Old 07-10-2000, 08:43 PM   #27
JO
Dojo: Aikikai de l'Université Laval
Location: Sainte-Catherine-de-la-J.-C., Québec
Join Date: Jun 2000
Posts: 292
Canada
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To bring this thread back to the meaning of competitive. I have to disagree on the competitive/combattive split. Maybe it was our messed up society that changed the meaning from the latin, but I can think of no one speaking english who would use the word competition to describe people striving together for something, not from a teamwork perspective anyway. To quote the Oxford dictionary under competitive "having a strong urge to win".
In ecology (my field of study), we use the word competition to describe two or more organisms striving for one common resource with the idea that if one gets it the other doesn't and this is pretty much in line with the general usage of the word. For two organisms working together for mutual gain, we use the term mutualism or symbiosis.
Using this terminology I would say that aikido is (or strives to be) a mutualistic martial art, and that this is part of what I enjoy about it.
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