A Hidden Gem

One of the reasons I am posting here is to discover some hidden gems that cannot be found easily elsewhere on the web.

In the spirit of discovering more, I would like to share this.

Emanuel Lasker was a German chess player, mathematician, and philosopher. He was the second World Chess Champion, holding the title for 27 years, from 1894 to 1921, the longest reign of any officially recognised World Chess Champion in history.

His magnum opus, Kampf, or Struggle, is an attempt to create a science governing the strategy of contests.

Here are some passages from the book which I hope will pique some of your interests.

It is an old reflection that life is a struggle. Darwin has expressed this idea more profoundly. He proved that the race, nay even the individual, is the product of the life struggles of its ancestors. The riddles of the cosmos can therefore be solved in
one way only; by investigating the laws and principles which determine the course and the outcome of struggles.

Hence faith is a belief that the forces of life act not blindly but are, manlike, subjected to the working of a principle of justice.

When our life presents hardships, when we cannot master the difficulties, and doubts of our
ability discourage us, hope tells us to do our best and to wait. When we are in the presence of immense forces and a sense of our insignificance assails us, faith whispers into our ear not to fear injustice. Hope and faith still the heart beat when will and reason cannot overcome obstacles

It is the mystical conception of life that has to be contended against. The riddles of life being solvable only by a study of struggle, the mystical conception of contest must be assailed. What is struggle and victory? Do they obey laws that reason can comprehend and formulate? What are these laws? That is the problem!

Would love to either hear your perspectives on this book, or be presented with any other hidden gems like this one.

This is really interesting. Struggle is the principle that creates life, health, and truth, and it has justice to it. I have not heard of this so I will have to go read it. Is there a good english translation you recommend? Looks like archive has the german:

https://archive.org/details/kampf00lask/page/4/mode/2up

This feels like a member of a mostly lost tradition of philosophy from pre-war Germany that I am very interested in. There is an absolute goldmine of philosophy, much of it forgotten, suppressed, or untranslated, in 19th and early 20th century Germany. Germany was at the absolute forefront of philosophy and science. In particular this sub-tradition that includes Nietzsche, Spengler, Goethe and seemingly this guy feels like it was bringing into being some new era of civilization with a whole new fundamental worldview. But tragically the living tradition was lost in the wars.

I've been studying german and trying to read as much of this stuff as I can because I suspect that here is the intellectual goldmine that can help us build a much better and higher civilization. I don't have other hidden gems for you as I've mostly just been doing a slow survey of the obvious stuff, but I want to second the implicit intellectual program here.

(you should greentext long quotes by prepending a > to the lines which you intend to quote)

>>1434
Noted to green text long quotes.

I am only aware of the translation translation I have linked above. Unfortunately it isnt written very clearly.

Also, as I don't speak German I cannot vouch for the accuracy of any translation.

_Kampf_ is a favorite of the R/ACCs, alongside Atzecan "agonistic inamic unity": https://www.worldhistory.biz/ancient-history/64084-3-1-agonistic-inamic-unity.html

Also, I am highly sympathetic to the "intellectual long tail", far-from-distribution sampling of the space of works and concepts. I have a particular fondness for the writings of one William Osborne Brigstocke, who I am quite certain very few people alive today (aside from me) know that he ever existed.

For an introduction: http://vunex.blogspot.com/2007/05/palaeological-grammar.html

>>1532
Great article. The book in question is available in full here:
https://www.google.com/books/edition/Michael_Neo_Palaeologus_His_Grammar/a4EvAQAAIAAJ?hl=en

I love pre-war German-speaking intellectual culture. This is maybe the first time I've seen a compelling positive conception of struggle.

Have you read Albert Schweitzer? (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Schweitzer)

>The struggle to maintain veracity is a basic element of spiritual life.
>The spirit of humanity is a creative spirit and therefore we trust in it not only because it remains our hope in these times, but because it is able to fulfill its historic task.
>Again and again we unite with gratitude to the God who has directed us to such a glorious sphere of activity, gratitude to the kind people who make it possible for us through the gifts they send for the work.
>What we call love is in its essence Reverence for Life. All material and spiritual values only insofar as they serve the maintenance of life at its highest level and the furtherance of life.

Károly Kerényi is also an intellectual heavyweight in mythology, Hungarian-born but educated in the German tradition. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Károly_Kerényi

George Santayana, although Spanish-born, always seems to me to be stylistically similar, especially his "The Life of Reason." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Life_of_Reason

Finally, "Minutes of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society"--notes from Freud's "Wednesday Evening Group"--is a great inside view into discussions from the era. https://archive.org/details/minutesofviennap0001wien/page/n5/mode/2up

https://ploum.net/the-computer-built-to-last-50-years/index.html