The Art of War

[ChiDragon]

1 hour ago, Daniel said:

 

That's interesting to me.  It's a completely different point of view from what I would expect.  I thank you for that.  Maybe I'll reread that section and apply what you're saying to it.

 

The moral law in the mind of Sun Tze is the good for the people. The ruler is obligated not to rage a war. If he does, it must be for a good cause and beneficial to all people. It will bring unity between the ruler and the people to keep the country as a whole.

[whocoulditbe?]

14 hours ago, Kojiro said:

Honestly, for me this moral law as understood by Sun Tzu is a slave belief system in which they are blindly following their ruler, that is what it is in my opinion

If you can accept Nietzsche's thing about slave morality being based around resentiment and reaction, then this is just what Sunzi is advocating to avoid. The law that can be followed blindly is the gentlest kind of law, since it seems to come not from the ruler, but from within. When one is acting as a true slave, one's senses are at their most exercised, far from being blind, since the senses are the means by which control and fear are imposed on the mind. But it is better to understand the nature of those under your command, subtly steering them towards your intentions (and your intentions towards their capacities) rather than crudely imposing them like a mould. That way, you let their useful qualities neither decay nor become exhausted. This kind of power can be so subtle that it feels just like nature, like Zhuangzi's well-fitting shoe, but that makes it no less powerful, nor does this subtlety require any Machiavellian dishonesty.