Table Of ContentReading Jean- Jacques Rousseau through
the Prism of Chess
Over a period of forty years, Jean-J acques Rousseau combined his devo-
tion to writing with his enthusiasm for chess, and these two passions
necessarily intertwined. Rousseau was able to transfer his power of con-
centration and the strict dialectics of his literary writings to his chess
strategy. If Rousseau’s analytical skills influenced his attitude toward the
game, then the game of chess inspired his logic and affected his dis-
course. Interpreted as a form of rationality, as a conceptual paradigm,
the rules and strategies of chess accurately describe Rousseau’s ideas for
the management of society, political power, and organization. Reading
Jean- Jacques Rousseau through the Prism of Chess shows that Rousseau’s
political theory, though allegedly inspired by Nature, found a perfect
model in a game created by mankind; chess thus became a reference for
his philosophical discourse and practice as well as a method to system-
atize Nature and organize society.
Florian Vauléon is Associate Professor of French at Purdue University,
Northwest.
Reading Jean- Jacques
Rousseau through the
Prism of Chess
Florian Vauléon
university of michigan press | ann arbor
Copyright © 2019 by Florian Vauléon
All rights reserved
This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form
(beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and
except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publisher.
Published in the United States of America by
the University of Michigan Press
Manufactured in the United States of America
Printed on acid- free paper
First published December 2019
A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978- 0- 472- 13163- 1 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN 978- 0- 472- 12619- 4 (ebook)
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction 1
1 | Chess in Eighteenth- Century France 11
2 | Rousseau’s Infatuation with Chess 30
3 | The Structure and Logic of Chess in Rousseau’s Dialogues 45
4 | Rousseau and the Philosophy of Chess 52
5 | The Individual in Rousseau’s Social Game of Chess 71
6 | The Social Body in Rousseau’s Social Game of Chess 81
7 | The Legislator in Rousseau’s Social Game of Chess 96
Conclusion 117
Notes 119
Bibliography 135
Index 145
Digital materials related to this title can be found on
the Fulcrum platform via the following citable URL:
https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.11388716
Acknowledgments
This book has taken me a few years to write. It would never have been pos-
sible without the amazing support and feedback of my wife, Catherine, the
apple of my eye. From reading the early drafts to reviewing the finished
work, you have been instrumental in this project and I can never thank
you enough. I would also like to acknowledge the little ones, the joy of our
lives, without whom this book would have been completed years ago.
Introduction
Two opponents, sixty- four checkered squares, thirty- two pieces with two
distinct colors, a set of rules that determines how each piece should move.
Here are the premises of a game that, all throughout the eighteenth cen-
tury, fascinated Western Europe and, in particular, France and England,
the two countries where chess flourished, its rules were settled, and the
first masters became known. Chess was considered a battle of wills, a spir-
itual war played out on a gridded board that quickly developed into an
allegorical and philosophical representation of the world. Many of the phi-
losophes were enthusiastic chess players and spent hours “pushing wood”
in salons, in coffeehouses, or in the comfort of their own homes. It is a
game at which the breadth and strength of a player’s intelligence can most
easily be displayed, and a game at which most learned people tried to play
but very few excelled, according to the Chevalier de Jaucourt in his article
“Échecs” (Chess), published in Denis Diderot’s Encyclopédie: “Le jeu des
échecs que tout le monde connait, et que très-p eu de personnes jouent
bien, est de tous les jeux où l’esprit a part, le plus savant, et celui dans le-
quel l’étendue et la force de l’esprit du jeu peut se faire le plus aisément
remarquer.”1
The game of chess was introduced in Europe during the Middle Ages,
but its origin is still very much in dispute. Some chess historians argue that
the game originated in China, others believe that its beginnings were in
India, yet others have identified Persia as its place of birth.2 What does act
as proof, however, is that “the earliest reference to the game is contained in
a Persian romance written about 600 AD, which ascribes the origin of
chess to India.”3 The ancestor of the modern chess game was known in
India as chaturanga. “A similar game was also played in China. It was
called hsiang chi. The game spread from India to Persia, known today as
Iran.”4 It was an esteemed pastime throughout the Arab world where its
popularity grew steadily. The pieces at that time represented the distinct
local powers. There was “the king, his general or chief counselor called a
vizier, and a line of foot soldiers.”5 The elephant was used instead of the
