PREFACE
Originally, I planned to title this dissertation, “The Philosophy of Warfare”, then, “The Philosophy of Combat”. I finally settled with, The Philosophy of Fighting. There is good reason behind this besides literary OCD. Fighting is not always a form of warfare, nor is fighting always necessarily combative. Can fighting be used in warfare, or used to be combative? Absolutely. However, just because fighting can be used in this manner does not mean this is what it is at its essence. Though, that is generally how fighting is looked at and surely not through any individual’s fault. Most of the time we are only invited to look at the surface. We are familiar with waging war. What we ignore is when we wage war, although what we are expressing …show more content…
The only thing that only gains in war is war. Sun Tzu stresses the importance of war to the state. An interesting point and one that is often over looked: how war affects the state and the people it governs. When one speaks of war what comes to mind are the troops and the battles, very rarely are the civilians back home thought of. War is selfish. But of course they are affected; expenses go up, loss of family members, industrial displacement etc. However, Sun Tzu, even being a general, does not perceive war superficially. Sun Tzu recognizes the collateral damage of war and proposes that the best kind of war is the one that is never fought, to break your enemies’ resistance without fighting. In turn, that may help minimize the cost and loss of war experienced by both those that are in the war, and those and the home front. He affirms that “the skillful leader subdues the enemy’s troops without any fighting” (Tzu and Rudnicki 20). Sun Tzu uses this affirmation to emphasize the importance of speed in regards to skill. Stating that this will also be rather quick victory. In theory, speed can be a major determinant of skill. For example, let’s say two mathematicians were to sit down and solve the same complex math problem. They both solved the problem, and solved it correctly. Be that as it may, if one were to affectively finish ten minutes before the other, would we not assume the one who finished faster has the greater
Originally, I planned to title this dissertation, “The Philosophy of Warfare”, then, “The Philosophy of Combat”. I finally settled with, The Philosophy of Fighting. There is good reason behind this besides literary OCD. Fighting is not always a form of warfare, nor is fighting always necessarily combative. Can fighting be used in warfare, or used to be combative? Absolutely. However, just because fighting can be used in this manner does not mean this is what it is at its essence. Though, that is generally how fighting is looked at and surely not through any individual’s fault. Most of the time we are only invited to look at the surface. We are familiar with waging war. What we ignore is when we wage war, although what we are expressing …show more content…
The only thing that only gains in war is war. Sun Tzu stresses the importance of war to the state. An interesting point and one that is often over looked: how war affects the state and the people it governs. When one speaks of war what comes to mind are the troops and the battles, very rarely are the civilians back home thought of. War is selfish. But of course they are affected; expenses go up, loss of family members, industrial displacement etc. However, Sun Tzu, even being a general, does not perceive war superficially. Sun Tzu recognizes the collateral damage of war and proposes that the best kind of war is the one that is never fought, to break your enemies’ resistance without fighting. In turn, that may help minimize the cost and loss of war experienced by both those that are in the war, and those and the home front. He affirms that “the skillful leader subdues the enemy’s troops without any fighting” (Tzu and Rudnicki 20). Sun Tzu uses this affirmation to emphasize the importance of speed in regards to skill. Stating that this will also be rather quick victory. In theory, speed can be a major determinant of skill. For example, let’s say two mathematicians were to sit down and solve the same complex math problem. They both solved the problem, and solved it correctly. Be that as it may, if one were to affectively finish ten minutes before the other, would we not assume the one who finished faster has the greater