tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5185876513552272723.post6514472930159249138..comments2024-03-28T03:10:23.679-07:00Comments on Polemarch: Wargaming and AestheticsThe Polemarchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10958736917525649927noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5185876513552272723.post-22853932406569646372014-08-16T02:35:25.475-07:002014-08-16T02:35:25.475-07:00I think that Heidegger, alomg with a lot of German...I think that Heidegger, alomg with a lot of German intellectuals (and not a few non-German ones) was led astray by early Nazi propaganda - for example, Debye, Hesienberg and Plank were all more on board with the Nazi regime than Heidegger was. That doesn't mean that his actions as President of Freiburg were right, but it does contextualise them a bit.<br /><br />Be that as it may, it doesn't mean we can dismiss his thought, assuming that we can understand it. I suspect that more people give up on Heidegger for the latter reason than the fact that he was an (ex-) Nazi sympathiser. <br /><br />The interesting thing about entropy, though, is that it can show local order, like Mr Foy's crystals. Even in formally chaotic systems, some order emerges. Which is probably just as well or our Napoleonic Polish lancers wouldn't stay as lancers long enough for us to paint them...The Polemarchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10958736917525649927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5185876513552272723.post-17055093147899650642014-08-16T02:30:03.856-07:002014-08-16T02:30:03.856-07:00I agree that wargaming is an aesthetic experience,...I agree that wargaming is an aesthetic experience, but I am still struggling to explain it, as it is not a static experience, but a dynamic one. We don't just look at our nice, lined up armies, we do something with them.<br /><br />As for Art, well, some of it is best left where it started from, in the mind of the 'Artist'....The Polemarchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10958736917525649927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5185876513552272723.post-48328509971730748192014-08-16T02:27:28.749-07:002014-08-16T02:27:28.749-07:00Interesting. On another view, of course, man is pa...Interesting. On another view, of course, man is part of nature, so our propensity to line things up is just nature's way of tidying.<br /><br />But one argument is that we create order and meaning. After all, my prized Macedonian phalanx is nothing but a bunch of toy soldiers to most people. They mean different things to me and the non-wargaming multitudes. <br /><br />Possibly, of course, that is why you tried to keep your cousin away from the toys...The Polemarchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10958736917525649927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5185876513552272723.post-33921309298330376022014-08-16T02:24:32.318-07:002014-08-16T02:24:32.318-07:00I'm most disappointed that you've not mana...I'm most disappointed that you've not managed some Heidegger-ing; part of the point of the post, after all, was to share the pain....The Polemarchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10958736917525649927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5185876513552272723.post-48792180668727782702014-08-10T02:12:31.501-07:002014-08-10T02:12:31.501-07:00That's a reliefThat's a reliefEpictetushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17993781308540523271noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5185876513552272723.post-62242503853795696052014-08-09T14:15:47.536-07:002014-08-09T14:15:47.536-07:00Certainly entropy is the word I used, so I guess i...Certainly entropy is the word I used, so I guess it must be. MSFoyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14470241067504971068noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5185876513552272723.post-91966518739949038952014-08-09T12:00:24.785-07:002014-08-09T12:00:24.785-07:00Perhaps it was Heidegger's appreciation of the...Perhaps it was Heidegger's appreciation of the aesthetics of uniforms that underpinned his support for the Nazis.<br /><br />And the concept which General Foy describes and to which his friend was trying ascribe supernatural causes is surely no more than entropy, as defined by the second law of thermodynamics. Epictetushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17993781308540523271noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5185876513552272723.post-24705562264525419092014-08-09T06:22:05.687-07:002014-08-09T06:22:05.687-07:00I don't think there's any doubt that warga...I don't think there's any doubt that wargaming is an aesthetic experience - if it wasn't for the aesthetic, we'd all be playing computer games instead.<br /><br />Disclosing the Being through being? Yes, I could probably get that too. In fact, I'd go so far to say it discloses more wholesome Beings than some so-called Art (with a capital A) does. What does a wargames army disclose of its creator compared with an unmade bed, pile of bricks or a shark sawn in half? Discuss.Chris Gricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11140516359480860914noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5185876513552272723.post-34768993954638725502014-08-09T03:59:45.202-07:002014-08-09T03:59:45.202-07:00I am aware that I made no reference at all to Heid...I am aware that I made no reference at all to Heidegger here - too bloody right.MSFoyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14470241067504971068noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5185876513552272723.post-15423222753458001002014-08-09T03:50:36.997-07:002014-08-09T03:50:36.997-07:00I'm not sure where I read it (you may well kno...I'm not sure where I read it (you may well know) but I once came across the idea that one of the defining properties of intelligence is its ability to bring order, to arrange things/objects/whatever to suit itself, in a universe where the trend is otherwise towards increasing entropy, chaos. If we set aside the ability of Nature to produce crystals and astonishing mathematical patterns in molecular structures, the general tendency of big, coarse, outdoor Nature (capital N) is that elements will oxidise or otherwise degrade to become impure, living things will die and decompose to become a nondescript mixture of organic substances blowing about, and the weather will erode and generally spoil any eccentric or distinctive objects it comes across. The trend is always towards a general heap of rubbish.<br /><br />The fact that men (for example) enjoy arranging shiny stones in straight lines or setting up stuff like toy soldiers in unnatural, shiny arrangements is because we can. As a (supposedly) intelligent life form, a man can arrange things in a manner which is opposed to nature, and which he finds pleasing. Given time, of course, Nature will get him in the end - his shiny stones will weather away and become lost in the heap of rubbish, but there is a frontier here. Man as a bringer of order, Nature as a spoiler and a grinder.<br /><br />A friend of mine used to maintain that inanimate objects were actually aware of this conflict, and thus take deliberately action to defeat the sorting and the straight lines - the toast will invariably land butter side down, the roof tiles will crack during rainstorms etc. Of course, this is nuts my friend was a madman - it's just probability - the passing of time and events drags us towards averages and mixtures which have no space for something as trivial or as inconvenient as a line of soldiers.<br /><br />I am ducking the larger part of your post here, but I think there is something in this. Creating and lining up a toy army, however inconsequential, is an exercise of will, a statement of choice by an intelligence - the army will only continue to exist, even for a short time, as the result of extreme care, careful storage, temperature management, keeping the sunlight away, making sure that my late cousin Harold does not get to play with them.<br /><br />Man against Nature. Place your bets. MSFoyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14470241067504971068noreply@blogger.com