ABSTRACT I call the trait that makes for a good or great competitor, the trait that makes its possessor compete well, ‘competitive excellence’. We seem to be of two minds about this trait: on the one hand, we often admire great competitors, but on the other hand, we sometimes identify their competitive drive as ‘pathological’, recognizing something unhealthy in it. Why are we so ambivalent? The answer I will defend is that there are at least three distinct traits, each of which satisfies the definition of competitive excellence and so has something of a claim to be the trait we admire in great competitors. One of these traits is a virtue, one a vice, and one can be either a virtue or a vice depending on what other traits accompany it. This accounts for our deep ambivalence about great competitors and implies that we should only seek to be great competitors in a qualified sense.

中文翻译：

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三种竞争卓越

摘要我将使一个优秀或优秀竞争者的特征称为“竞争优势”，即使拥有者竞争良好的特征。对于这个特征，我们似乎有两种想法：一方面，我们经常钦佩强大的竞争对手，但另一方面，我们有时会认为他们的竞争动力是“病态的”，并认识到其中有些不健康。为什么我们如此矛盾？我要捍卫的答案是，至少有三个不同的特征，每个特征都可以满足卓越竞争的定义，因此可以说是我们在优秀竞争对手中钦佩的特征。这些特质之一是一种美德，一种是恶习，一个可以是美德，也可以是恶习，这取决于它伴随着哪些其他特质。