Games Continued
E continues:
Possibly all these are facets of the true situation. These are complicated questions which don’t have either/or answers, it seems to me.Chicken-egg problem. Do cubicle workers play minesweeper because it is a continuation of their regular pattern of life — or is it a product of intelligent design — children play minesweeper in order to facilitate their transition to contented cubicle workers? Moreover, can an unconscious ‘stream of being’ be articulated which sets the orientation of the young and ultimately leads to their distribution in vocations of ‘choice’ ?
Another question: do those playing America’s Army naturally transition to soldierly occupations? Assuming yes, under what circumstances do they make good soldiers? Again, how moral is the person who takes their moral lessons from Chess?
Surely many more factors are involved than just the game. I did find this interesting piece by Benjamin Franklin on the morality of chess:
http://www.wisconsinscholasticchess.org/moralsofchess.php
He lays emphasis on the players’ intention and good will as important elements in the use of chess to cultivate morality.
Tangential to this there’s the “Soldier’s Deck of Cards” : http://thegentleshepherd.net/SoldiersDeckOfCards.html
And chapter XVII of the Gesta Romanorum, summarized thus:Antonius governed the city of Rome with great wisdom. He was exceedingly fond of the game of chess ; and observing, on one occasion, that when the men were replaced in the bag as usual, the king was confounded with the inferior pieces, it led him to reflections upon the vanity of human greatness. He thereupon determines to make a triple division of his kingdom, and hasten to the Holy Land. He did so, and died in peace.
All interesting. Some people might consider quitting life on the same note as Antonius, having no faster means towards reaching the ‘Holy Land.’ “Soldier’s Deck” raises the issue of pious lies.
