Philosophy 101

Ex World Champion Chess master Garry Kasparov has decided to run for President in Russia in March of 2008. He is heading a coalition called “The Other Russia”, which is pushing for more substantial democratic change to Russia. An editorial of Kasparov in the WSJ shows his judgment of Putin:

Mr. Putin’s government is unique in history. This Kremlin is part oligarchy, with a small, tightly connected gang of wealthy rulers. It is partly a feudal system, broken down into semi-autonomous fiefdoms in which payments are collected from the serfs, who have no rights. Over this there is a democratic coat of paint, just thick enough to gain entry into the G-8 and keep the oligarchy’s money safe in Western banks. But if you really wish to understand the Putin regime in depth, I can recommend some reading. No Karl Marx or Adam Smith. Nothing by Montesquieu or Machiavelli, although the author you are looking for is of Italian descent. But skip Mussolini’s “The Doctrine of Fascism,” for now, and the entire political science section. Instead, go directly to the fiction department and take home everything you can find by Mario Puzo. If you are in a real hurry to become an expert on the Russian government, you may prefer the DVD section, where you can find Mr. Puzo’s works on film. “The Godfather” trilogy is a good place to start…

Also, a nice excerpt from an interview with Bill Maher is available over at Reason.TV.

Kasparov recently published a book called “How Life Imitates Chess”. In it he describes how chess can help in analyzing one’s decision-making processes. That reminds me of Ayn Rand’s letter to chess champion Boris Spassky, in which she wrote:

…Oh yes, Comrade, chess is an escape – an escape from reality. It is an “out,” a kind of “make-work” for a man of higher than average intelligence who was afraid to live, but could not leave his mind unemployed and devoted it to a placebo – thus surrendering to others the living world he had rejected as too hard to understand. …You, the chess professionals, are taken as exponents of the most precious of human skills: intellectual power – yet that power deserts you beyond the confines of the sixty-four squares of a chessboard, leaving you confused, anxious, and helplessly unfocused. Because, you see, the chessboard is not a training ground, but a substitute for reality. (Philosophy: Who needs it, pp. 54-57)

Ah, the irony! In that letter Rand proclaims her support for Spassky’s opponent Bobby Fischer, since the game between Spassky and Fischer was seen as an ideological match between Russia and America. And now, a Russian chess champion is working politically to achieve a free society in Russia.

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