从哲学的角度来讨论国际象棋。 难怪国际象棋往往是哲学问题的讨论。 像著名的哲学家卢梭与维特根斯坦都用了国际象棋的想法。 从哲学角度看国际象棋 （编辑本杰明海尔） 12当代思想家讨论专业的各个方面我们的比赛。

Review: Philosophy Looks at Chess

http://www.chessvibes.com/plaatjes/philosophylooksatchess.jpgFrom time to time on this site I have tried to discuss chess from a philosophical point of view. No wonder: chess is very often the subject of philosophical discussions. In the past, famous philosophers like Rousseau and Wittgenstein have used chess in their thinking. In the recent bookPhilosophy Looks at Chess (edited by Benjamin Hale) twelve contemporary professional thinkers discuss various aspects of our royal game.

Let me start by telling you how to judge a non-fiction book in ten seconds: you go to the ‘index’ and simply look up your heroes, i.e. favourite writers, chess players, philosophers etc. and see how many ‘hits’ you score. It’s simple, but very effective, especially if you don’t know the author(s). When I read a book on philosophy and chess, I want it to at least mention Jonathan Rowson’s bookChess for Zebras. I want it to discuss Dennett’s and Searle’s views on artificial intelligence. I want it to mention Kasparov and Deep Blue and Rybka or Fritz. And hey, let’s toss in some Plato as well. Otherwise, it’s simply not a book on philosophy and chess.

For the first time, this book offers a collection of contemporary essays that explore philosophical themes at work in chess. This collection includes essays on the nature of a game, the appropriateness of chess as a metaphor for life, and even deigns to query whether Garry Kasparov might—just might—be a cyborg. In twelve unique essays, contributed by philosophers with a broad range of expertise in chess, this book poses both serious and playful questions about this centuries-old pastime.

Perhaps more interestingly, philosophers have often used chess in discussions of their work. Walter Benjamin compares the marching of history to an automaton playing chess. John Dewey and Charles Sanders Peirce utilize chess to explain their pragmatism. The linguist Ferdinand de Saussure employs the analogy of chess to explain the exchange of signifiers. There are approximately 181 uses of the word chess or one of its cognates in the published works of Ludwig Wittgenstein. John Rawls explains that one might want to make a distinction between constitutive and regulative rules, which can best be understood by examining a game of chess.

John Searle, deeply convinced of this distinction, explains further: "The rules of football or chess are given as an example of constitutive rules because they 'create the very possibility of playing such games.'" Hubert Dreyfus and Daniel Dennett have had extensive public discussions about the issue of artificial intelligence and chess. Dreyfus, utilizing chess examples, has written extensively on what computers still cannot do. Meanwhile, in spite of his protestations, chess-playing computers continue to fascinate those who work in the area of artificial intelligence.

The game of chess has endured since at least the sixth century. Its earliest variant, the Indian game of Chaturanga, was from the beginning a game for thinkers. Since its inception, scholars, statesmen, strategists, and warriors have been fascinated by the game and its variants. German philosopher Emmanuel Lasker and famed French artist Marcel Duchamp were both Grandmasters at chess. Karl Marx played chess avidly, as did Sir Bertrand Russell, Jean-Paul Sartre, and the logical positivist Max Black.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau mentions in his Confessions that, at the time, he "had another expedient, not less solid, in the game of chess, to which I regularly dedicated, at Maugis's, the evenings on which I did not go to the theater. I became acquainted with M. de Legal, M. Husson, Philidor, and all the great chess players of the day, without making the least improvement in the game." More recently, philosopher Stuart Rachels reports that his father, the late philosopher and prominent ethicist James Rachels, was offered a bribe from a Russian Grandmaster while he was the chair of the U.S. Chess Federation's Ethics committee.

"Chess and philosophy are natural mates that have been awaiting the proper introduction. This wide-ranging collection of stimulating essays is the perfect opening gambit for philosophical chess enthusiasts."
—Will Dudley, author of Hegel, Nietzsche, and Philosophy: Thinking Freedom

Benjamin Hale is Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies and Philosophy at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He is the Director of the Center for Values and Social Policy in the Philosophy Department, as well as Affiliate Fellow in the Center for Science and Technology Policy. Dr. Hale holds a Ph.D. in philosophy and an M.P.A. in natural resource policy. His articles have appeared in journals such as Metaphilosophy, Think!, Journal of Medical Ethics, and Philosophy for Everyone.