Tuesday 27 May 2008

Chess, Psychoanalysis, Pseudoscience etc

Massimo Pigliucci over at Secular Philosophy has an interesting post about pseudoscience and it's unfalsifiability characteristic. He sets the scene by recounting some Freudian observations of the game. As an occasion player I was amazed by just how fcuked up I am! ;-)

“It is plain that the unconscious motive activating [chess] players is not the mere love of pugnacity characteristic of all competitive games, but the grimmer one of father murder.”

[snip]

“It will not surprise the psychoanalyst when he learns ... that in attacking the father the most potent assistance is offered by the mother (=Queen). ... It is doubtless [its] anal-sadistic feature that makes the game so well adapted to gratify at the same time both the homosexual and the antagonistic aspects of the father-son contest.”