Great post and fascinating comment section (though unfortunately I don't understand the bridge parts)! It's interesting to hear about the comparisons on aesthetics/beauty between the two games.
"But if I ever meet Bergson in the shades, I’ll tell him that the chess players of the world know the real meaning of The Reality of Time."
As Abraham said, chessplayers are prone to regret, after games and during games. The moves we make on the board are more about space, but they also move through time. And the moves on the board and in our heads move through several dimensions of time: physical time, time inside the position, time 'which professional philosophers ignore or pretend to ignore', and the changing perception of it as we play and remember the game.
I love the notion of regret connecting moves in our heads with something deeper than that individual game, and reflecting on these things, Kahneman's words feel like they favour the 'objective' and practical aspect of the game rather than something that makes us live and love the game itself, that which we experience through our senses rather than as something that can be described in just words and notation. Coupled with the notions of beauty/aesthetics through 'the sense of the unexpected' in chess, there's a whole suite of elements to discuss!
I wonder if anything has changed in your views on beauty/aesthetics in chess and bridge since 2009?
And yet, Junta, regarding point 5, we'd lose the lovely notion of the real meaning of regret as espoused by Abrahams, I wrote about it long ago here.... https://swatchless.wordpress.com/2009/04/30/on-the-role-of-beauty-and-regret-in-bridge/
Great post and fascinating comment section (though unfortunately I don't understand the bridge parts)! It's interesting to hear about the comparisons on aesthetics/beauty between the two games.
"But if I ever meet Bergson in the shades, I’ll tell him that the chess players of the world know the real meaning of The Reality of Time."
As Abraham said, chessplayers are prone to regret, after games and during games. The moves we make on the board are more about space, but they also move through time. And the moves on the board and in our heads move through several dimensions of time: physical time, time inside the position, time 'which professional philosophers ignore or pretend to ignore', and the changing perception of it as we play and remember the game.
I love the notion of regret connecting moves in our heads with something deeper than that individual game, and reflecting on these things, Kahneman's words feel like they favour the 'objective' and practical aspect of the game rather than something that makes us live and love the game itself, that which we experience through our senses rather than as something that can be described in just words and notation. Coupled with the notions of beauty/aesthetics through 'the sense of the unexpected' in chess, there's a whole suite of elements to discuss!
I wonder if anything has changed in your views on beauty/aesthetics in chess and bridge since 2009?