Dennis M's Chess Site

This is a blog for chess fans by a chess fan. I enjoy winning as much as anyone else, and I've had a reasonable amount of success as a competitor, but what keeps me coming back to the game is its beauty. And that, primarily, is what this site will be about! All material copyrighted.

Thursday, February 17, 2005

Ayn Rand and Chess in the USSR

Via the Maverick Philosopher's blog, I came across this open letter from self-proclaimed novelist-philosopher Ayn Rand to Boris Spassky dated just after the latter's loss of the world championship title to Bobby Fischer. I don't agree with everything she says there (to say nothing of her larger worldview), but it is an interesting read.

posted by Dennis Monokroussos @ 7:53 PM  

2 Comments:

  • At 11:34 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Thanks for the post I always found her views compelling, though not always subtle.

    I don't understand why you would call her a self proclaimed novelist philosopher, she wrote several best selling novels and her writings on life and its meaning was taken very seriously.


    PS I do enjoy your Monday chess broadcasts, you do a great job.

     

  • At 3:41 PM, Blogger Dennis Monokroussos said…

    Hi Mikolov,

    I admit to having had some ambivalence about writing "self-proclaimed". Of course, there's no objection to calling her a novelist, and "novelist-philosopher" is how she describes herself in the letter to Spassky.

    Philosophers whose work I respect and who have taken a close look at works, however, find them lacking in the rigor one expects from a professional philosopher (see Bill Vallicella's Maverick Philosopher blog for examples). So while she addresses topics of philosophical interest, that's insufficient to make her a philosopher, in my book. (I would say the same for a writer like C. S. Lewis, whose work and worldview I find more compelling.)

    Glad you like the Monday night broadcasts - be sure to say "hello" after the show!

     

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