Anatol Rapoport (1911–2007,) born Anatoly Borisovich Rapoport, was a Russian-born American mathematical psychologist. One of the founders of the general systems theory, he is celebrated for his studies in conflict & cooperation and peace research.
Born to a secular Jewish family in Lozovaya, Kharkiv Governorate, Russia, today in Ukraine, Rapoport immigrated to America in 1922. He studied music in Chicago, then in Vienna (1929–34,) where he concluded his studies of composition, piano, and conducting at the State Academy of Music and Performing Arts (Staatsakademie für Musik und darstellende Kunst.) He performed as a concert pianist and gave lectures on music’s semantics in Europe and the Americas.
In 1941, Rapoport received a PhD degree in mathematics at the University of Chicago. During World War II, he served the U.S. Air Force in Alaska and India. Rapoport taught at the University of Chicago 1947–54, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor 1955–70, and University of Toronto 1970–83. He contributed to mathematical biology and the mathematical modeling of social interaction.
Rapoport was a professor of peace studies at the University of Toronto 1984–2000. He contributed to the criticism of international conflict, particularly of the Cold War and the dangers of nuclear conflagration.
Rapoport’s books include Operational Philosophy: Integrating Knowledge and Action (1953,) Fights, Games, and Debates (1960,) Prisoner’s Dilemma (1965,) Two-Person Game Theory (1966,) and Certainties and Doubts: A Philosophy of Life (2000.)
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Anatol Rapoport
To gain knowledge, we must learn to ask the right questions; and to get answers, we must act, not wait for answers to occur to us.
—Anatol Rapoport
Conflict… is a theme that has occupied the thinking of man more than any other, save only God and love.
—Anatol Rapoport
One cannot play chess if one becomes aware of the pieces as living souls and of the fact that the Whites and the Blacks have more in common with each other than with the players. Suddenly one loses all interest in who will be champion.
—Anatol Rapoport
Topics: Competition
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