sun tzu art of war

[blake1190]

what do you think on sun tzus philosphys?

[sacrednines]

Sun Tzu (if one, real person) had a great contemplative mind, although I much prefer Lao Tzu or Chaung Tzu (maybe the same person, depends on who you ask). But I disapprove of so much reflection on how to go about "war" - that ignoble and lowly failure of diplomacy. I don't think military strategy deserved more reflection than diplomacy during that period in China... Sun Tzu would be greater still had he written as much on how to avoid wars methinks – (a prospect which seems much more congruent with Taosim as I understand it). Brilliant though he seems, Sun Tzu will always be inferior in my mind because of this.

[CyberWar]

Sun Tzu was a general, meaning his job was to win wars when they had started, not avoid them. However, he did actually state in his Art of War that "the best way to win a war is not to start one".

The aspects covered by him are so basic they do not change, meaning his Art of War is still useful as strategy manual 2000 years later. Americans learned this the hard way - a famous North Vietnamese general was known to have memorized entire Art of War and required his officers to do the same. His strategies contributed greatly to US downfall in Vietnam. For this reason, Art of War is now included among study literature in all US military academies. It helped American generals to devise the highly-successful Desert Storm campaign.