The Art of War is as relevant today, with the strained U.S. vs China relationship as it was 2,5000 years ago.

The Art of War is an ancient Chinese military book written 2,500 years ago. This book has influenced both Eastern and Western military thinking, business, tactics, legal strategies, lifestyle, and more.

Michael Nylan is a professor of early Chinese history at the University of California, Berkeley. Her books include The Five “Confucian” Classics, China’s Early Empires, Analects: A Norton Critical Edition, The Canon of Supreme Mystery, Exemplary Figures, and Documents Classic.

Sun Tzu’s ancient book of strategy and psychology has as much to tell us today as when it was first written 2,500 years ago. In a world forever at odds, his rules for anticipating the motivations and strategies of our competitors never cease to inspire leaders of all kinds.

You can get The Art of War through this Amazon link.

The Art of War is a classic, not just a military classic, in the same sense that Thucydides’ Peloponnesian War is a classic, rather than a military classic. It is not only that The Art of War might as well be named The Art of Life, since it famously advises readers (originally all-powerful men at court) to avoid war, by any means, if possible, on the two cogent grounds that it is far too costly a substitute for diplomacy and long-term strategies, and that the outcome is never assured, given all the variables at play.

Equally importantly, the Art of War, like Thucydides, conjures the entire spectrum of human motivations that lead the already ultra-powerful to seek more power through violence. Then, too, The Art of War is interested in what I call the “politics of the common good” essentially, inquiring what sort of leadership can create a stable society in which domestic disruptions and painful divisions are at a minimum. In conversation with the so-called “Confucian” Classics, The Art of War imagines a three-pronged approach, wherein the vast majority can be brought to identify with good leaders, without imposing much conformity, as those leaders have shown themselves to be humane and deliberate when serving the people’s needs, desires, and interests.

But even the most benevolent power cannot do without the occasional resort to surveillance and to punishment, lest a small minority bent on destruction rip the social fabric apart. That said, The Art of War disdains macho displays; indeed, the classic specifically enjoins leaders who would excel in battle or statesmanship not to engage in “shows” of strength, in lines like “A victory that does not surpass the understanding of the vulgar crowd is not the best sort of victory.” Glory is not the goal in the Art of War, in other words. No Mission Accomplished banners fly high in the sky.

Instead, by its definition good leaders devise careful plans to confer the long-term advantages of safety and well-being on as many as possible, preferring this mode of operation to spectacular short-term wins spelling trouble down the road. Ergo the quiet charisma and exemplary self-discipline of the good leaders who discern that such dedicated service is neither moral nor pragmatic, but both.

For when old friends and allies and even the recently won-over are treated with consideration, sooner or later the leaders can count on their allegiance. How to build enduring trust in one’s own community is the ultimate thrust of The Art of War, a lesson for our times, if ever there was one, reeling from the “Decade of Distrust.”

The continual refrain of The Art of War is to forge unity at home, lest your enemies seize the opportunity to “create gaps” by their spies, counter-spies, and fake news. (In classical Chinese, the same graph means “gaps” and “spies.”)

Crucially, The Art of War concludes with a series of historical cases where the disaffected few toppled great empires, primarily because they were capable of envisioning a more just society, which rallied the masses to their cause. Justice, according to The Art of War, presupposes wide consultation with different interest groups, whenever any dangerous move is contemplated, and from chapter 1 to the very last chapter of The Art of War, we see consultation in action.

The initial battle plans are first reviewed in the ancestral temple, so that the ancestors may indicate their pleasure or displeasure through divination. Once in the field, the good commander sees to it that the lines of communication are open between himself and his men since both face a common threat and the loss of one is a loss to all.

Related Posts

1. 124 Joseph Zeppilli From Bad Monkey Popcorn
2. 123 Melanie Deziel, How To Maximize Your Creativity
3. 120 Mitch Joel from Six Pixels of Separation

Support this blog

You can support this blog by:

1. Using our Amazon Affiliate link. This will give this blog a 2% commission on your Amazon purchase at no additional cost to you.
2. Subscribing to our YouTube Channel. Once we reach 1,000 subscribers, this blog will receive some advertising revenue from YouTube.
3. Subscribing to our podcast through your favorite podcast app. The more subscriber we have, the easier it will be to get high-profile guests to come over and share their ideas with us.