West
The Art of War is a 2,500 year old treatise on strategy and tactics, designed to imbue a general with all the wisdom necessary to defeat the enemy in battle. At first glance it may seem as if the precepts presented by Sun Tzu are a collection of implements which the educated general may rummage through, selecting the proper tool for the occasion. To the discerning reader however, there is an underlying structure to Sun Tzu's advice, and it is clear that much of it is based on a few simple principles, foremost among them being that in order to be victorious a general should follow the path of least resistance.
The path of least resistance is a recurring theme in physics and is fundamental to our understanding of motion and electricity. The path along which lightning strikes is one everyday example of the path of least resistance; electrons flow along the shortest path (or to be precise, the least resistive path). It's an extremely simple and intuitive concept. Sun Tzu's contribution is to extend something that we understand implicitly, that the best route is the one with the least obstacles, to a more abstract pursuit - the making of war.
The most important part of charting a course with few obstacles is being mindful of the destination. Considering the title, it's both surprising and refreshing to see that Sun Tzu realizes that the final aim of war is not victory in war, but peace and prosperity for the state. To Sun Tzu, war is evil (II - 7). Much of his advice is given in tiers, from most to least desirable; war is the less desirable alternative to the diplomatic resolution of conflict.
Once war is unavoidable, it is then the general's duty to find the most efficient course of action resulting in the least possible friction. Using spies and psychological warfare are preferred, because "...supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting." (III - 2) Sun Tzu recognizes that lives lost on either side of the conflict are contrary to the wise warrior's goal. (III - 1 and XII - 21)
When battle is joined, Sun Tzu has dozens of different pieces of advice broken up into thirteen different categories ranging from types of terrain to use of fire. Again, the common theme is to "...avoid what is strong, strike at what is weak." (VI - 30) Each terrain, tactic, and mindset provides its own impedence. Sun Tzu leads the reader down the gentlest path, oftentimes by advising that the best course of action under the circumstances may be none at all.
In recent years these same strictures have been recycled and put to new use in areas such as business, marketting, and management. For this I give credit to the elegance and simplicity of Sun Tzu's theory.
I've presented The Art of War using a scientific metaphor because I'm a westerner educated in the scientific method, but in fact the tenets of Taoism are the true inspiration. I prefer my explanation because similar methods can be used to deal with other theories on war, and in fact life in general. For instance, the 19th century Prussian strategist Carl von Clausewitz's On War can be explained in terms of center of gravity and friction, and the German World War II strategy called blitzkrieg (german for "lightning war") is centered around momentum - striking hard and fast. Whether it is meaningful to reduce a complex system such as war to a simple physical concept is a valid philosophical question, but I'll save that for a review of another book, Doubt and Certainty.
East
Despite my parallel, Taoism (pronounced: dow-ism) is the obvious source of The Art of War. Taoism is an ancient Chinese philosophy or religion; in fact, "tao" translates to "way" or "path" and can be viewed as a way of life. Taoism is attributed to a number of sources, including the writings of Chuang Zi, the I Ching, and perhaps the most famous, the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu.
The tenets of Taoism are:
- Do not force things on people.
- Be unmovable, let events flow over you.
- The universe is composed of opposing yet complementary pairs called Yin and Yang. Male and female, light and dark, strong and weak, hard and soft, action and inaction. They must be in balance.
- All things are one, interrelated.
- Ideally, one should desire nothing. Desires bring strife, upset balance.
- The art of 'wu wei', action through inaction. Wu wei means accomplishing your goal through the most natural way, exerting the least effort.
The influence of Taoism is apparent throughout The Art of War. Wu wei is the eastern version of what I previously called "the path of least resistance." Likewise, dualism is common; Sun Tzu often speaks in terms of hard and soft, chaos and order, strength and weakness. By appearing weak, you maintain strength. By appearing in chaos when you are orderly, you may deceive the enemy. Sun Tzu uses these pairs in an attempt to maintain the balance prescribed by the Tao.
In accordance with the Tao, Sun Tzu's work is not written as a method for ambitious men to cause disorder through conquest. Sun Tzu frequently advises temperance of desire, and above all else, provides a means for a country to bend like the reed rather than break like the oak when the winds of change blow. The Art of War is about being one with the people, the country, and the universe as a whole.
Conclusion
Regardless of the vantage you choose to view The Art of War from, it's a splendid work with an underlying structure that makes it broadly applicable to life as a whole. Each individual stroke is simple. Taken together we see a portrait with two faces: the west, that of the path of least resistance, impedence, and leverage; the east, the Tao and the principle of wu wei.
