The Art of War explained by a Psychologist

Summary

In this insightful video, the speaker explores the timeless wisdom of 'The Art of War' by Sun Tzu, a Chinese military strategist from the 5th century BC. The speaker recounts their introduction to the book through a professional boxer and delves into its profound psychological and philosophical aspects. They compare Sun Tzu's strategies with those of Western military thinkers like Machiavelli and Carl von Clausewitz, highlighting the unique Chinese approach to conflict resolution that emphasizes deception and outsmarting the opponent rather than direct confrontation. The video offers a nuanced perspective on war, strategy, and leadership, suggesting that 'The Art of War' is not just for military use but also applicable in business and personal life, providing valuable lessons on avoiding and managing conflicts.

Takeaways

• 📚 The speaker discovered 'The Art of War' by Sun Tzu through an interview with a professional boxer and has been fascinated by its principles ever since.
• 🎯 Sun Tzu's work emphasizes the psychological and philosophical aspects of war, focusing on understanding the opponent and oneself, and estimating circumstances accurately.
• 🏋️‍♂️ The Art of War's principles can be applied beyond martial arts and warfare, proving useful in business, sports, leadership, and personal life.
• 🌏 The book has been influential across centuries to military strategists, business leaders, world leaders, and athletes.
• 📚 The speaker contrasts 'The Art of War' with Western military theory, highlighting the differences in approach to warfare and strategy between Eastern and Western thought.
• 🤝 Sun Tzu and Carl von Clausewitz, both military strategists, approach war from different perspectives despite sharing the view that war is a serious matter.
• 🤔 Sun Tzu advocates for overcoming opponents without fighting, preferring to attack the enemy's strategy through stratagems and deception.
• 🎯 Clausewitz, on the other hand, views stratagems as inferior and only to be used as a last resort in desperate situations.
• 📖 The speaker suggests reading 'The Art of War' multiple times to reflect on its insights and apply them to current challenges.
• 📘 'On War' by Clausewitz is described as a theoretical and classical work, difficult to read but fundamental for those interested in military theory.
• 🛠️ The Art of War is recommended as a practical guide for dealing with conflict, advising to read it for insights on overcoming adversaries without direct confrontation.

Q & A

What book initially sparked the speaker's interest in the study of war?

The speaker's interest in the study of war was initially sparked by 'The Art of War,' a book mentioned in an interview with a professional boxer.

Who is believed to have written 'The Art of War'?

'The Art of War' is believed to have been written by a Chinese gentleman named Sun Tzu, who lived in the 5th century BC.

What does the speaker find fascinating about Sun Tzu's work?

The speaker finds the psychological and philosophical aspects of Sun Tzu's work fascinating, particularly the principles of reading the opponent, knowing oneself, and estimating circumstances.

What is one of the essential parts of Sun Tzu's thinking in 'The Art of War'?

One of the essential parts of Sun Tzu's thinking is to overcome others' armies without fighting, which he considers the best of skills.

How has 'The Art of War' been influential throughout the centuries?

Throughout the centuries, 'The Art of War' has been influential to military strategists, business leaders, world leaders, and athletes, offering unique perspectives on war, strategy, and leadership.

What is the main difference between Sun Tzu's and Carl von Clausewitz's approach to war?

Sun Tzu emphasizes preventing the enemy's strategy through deception and stratagems, while Clausewitz focuses on the use of physical force and confrontational moments as essential to war.

What is an example of a stratagem as described in the script?

An example of a stratagem is Mr. Kong sending a student to warn the king of City C about an impending attack from City B, advising the king to attack City B first, thus preventing the attack on his own village without a direct fight.

How does the speaker view the relationship between war and peace?

The speaker views war and peace as two sides of the same coin, suggesting that peace and stability require hard work and that war can often be avoided with the right knowledge and skills.

What advice does the speaker give for reading 'The Art of War'?

The speaker advises to read 'The Art of War' several times, underlining sentences that trigger thoughts or provide new insights, and to reflect on how these insights can be applied to current situations.

What is the speaker's recommendation for choosing a translation of 'The Art of War'?

The speaker recommends choosing a translation that does not provide a literal translation from Chinese, as it can be abstract and difficult to study from, and one that includes an introduction on the time and context in which the book was written.

Outlines

00:00

💭 Understanding the Philosophy of War

The speaker discusses their fascination with the philosophy of war, particularly through the book 'The Art of War' by Sun Tzu, a Chinese military strategist from the fifth century BC. The book, with its focus on psychological and strategic aspects of war, emphasizes overcoming opponents without fighting. It has influenced various fields, including military strategy, business, and sports. The speaker contrasts this with Machiavelli's 'The Art of War' and Carl von Clausewitz's 'On War,' noting the different approaches and influences of these works.

05:02

⚔️ Strategic Differences: East vs. West

The speaker highlights the contrasting views on war strategy between Sun Tzu and Carl von Clausewitz. While Clausewitz sees war as a large-scale duel where physical force is essential, Sun Tzu advocates for attacking the enemy's strategy rather than direct confrontation. This approach involves using deception and stratagems, as illustrated through a historical example involving a wise man named Mr. Kong, who manipulates a situation to protect his village without fighting.

10:03

🔍 The Importance of Strategic Wisdom

As a health psychologist, the speaker emphasizes the relevance of war strategies in everyday conflict resolution. They argue that learning to manage conflicts and avoid direct confrontations can prevent violence and improve outcomes in personal and professional situations. They contrast the practical advice in Sun Tzu's 'The Art of War' with the more theoretical and dense 'On War' by Clausewitz, noting that both books offer valuable insights despite their differences in style and approach.

15:06

📚 Practical Advice from Ancient Wisdom

The speaker advises on how to approach reading 'The Art of War' for practical insights. They suggest repeatedly reading and reflecting on the book, underlining thought-provoking sentences, and considering how the advice can be applied to current conflicts. They recommend choosing a translation with contextual introductions to better understand the text. The speaker concludes by inviting viewers to subscribe to their channel for more episodes on related topics.

Keywords

💡Art of War

The 'Art of War' is an ancient Chinese military treatise attributed to Sun Tzu, a high-ranking military general, strategist, and tactician. It is a cornerstone of military strategy, focusing on the importance of strategy and tactics over brute force. In the video, it is mentioned as a source of inspiration and guidance for various aspects of life beyond warfare, including business and personal conflict resolution.

💡Sun Tzu

Sun Tzu is the traditional attribution for the author of 'The Art of War.' He is considered a master of military strategy and his work has had a profound impact on Eastern and Western military thinking, as well as on fields such as business and leadership. The video discusses his philosophies and how they have been applied beyond the battlefield.

💡Strategy

Strategy, in the context of the video, refers to a long-term plan designed to achieve a particular goal or set of goals. It is a central theme, with the video highlighting how Sun Tzu's 'Art of War' provides a framework for strategic thinking in various domains, including warfare, business, and personal life.

💡Psychological Warfare

Psychological warfare involves the use of propaganda, misinformation, and other tactics to influence the minds of the enemy. The video touches on this concept by discussing the importance of understanding one's opponent and using deception to gain an advantage, as outlined in 'The Art of War'.

💡Deception

Deception is a key concept in Sun Tzu's philosophy, where it is used to confuse and mislead the enemy. The video provides an example of how deception can be used in warfare to prevent conflict without direct confrontation, which is a central theme in the 'Art of War'.

💡Clausewitz

Carl von Clausewitz is a Prussian general and military theorist known for his work 'On War,' which is mentioned in the video as a Western counterpart to 'The Art of War.' Clausewitz's theories differ from Sun Tzu's, particularly in their views on the use of stratagems and the nature of warfare.

💡Stratagems

Stratagems are deceptive plans or schemes used to outwit an opponent. The video contrasts the views of Sun Tzu and Clausewitz on the use of stratagems, with Sun Tzu placing them at the center of his strategic thinking, while Clausewitz views them as a last resort.

💡Leadership

Leadership is a key theme in the video, as it relates to the ability to guide and influence others towards a common goal. The 'Art of War' and 'On War' both offer insights into leadership, particularly in the context of military strategy and conflict resolution.

💡Peace

Peace is presented in the video as a state of stability and harmony that is achieved through understanding and application of strategic principles. The speaker suggests that studying 'The Art of War' can help in maintaining peace and avoiding conflict.

💡Conflict Resolution

Conflict resolution refers to the process of addressing and resolving disputes. The video emphasizes the value of 'The Art of War' in learning how to overcome opponents without direct confrontation, offering an alternative to traditional conflict resolution methods.

Highlights

The speaker discovered 'The Art of War' by Sun Tzu through an interview with a professional boxer, which influenced his approach to martial arts.

Sun Tzu's work emphasizes the psychological and philosophical aspects of war, beyond the physical conflict.

The Art of War promotes overcoming opponents without direct fighting, highlighting the importance of strategy and leadership.

The book has influenced various fields including military strategy, business, and sports, offering universal principles for dealing with adversaries.

The speaker contrasts Sun Tzu's work with Western military theory, highlighting the differences in approach to warfare.

Machiavelli's 'The Art of War' is mentioned as a less universal and more historically specific work compared to Sun Tzu's.

Carl von Clausewitz's 'On War' is presented as a Western counterpart to Sun Tzu, with significant influence on military theory.

Both Sun Tzu and Clausewitz agree that war is a serious matter with grave consequences, not to be glorified.

Sun Tzu's strategy focuses on preventing the enemy's strategy through deception, a key aspect of Chinese strategic thinking.

An example of using deception in warfare is given, illustrating how Mr. Kong protected his village without fighting.

Clausewitz views stratagems as inferior and a last resort, differing from Sun Tzu who centralizes them in his philosophy.

The speaker advocates for studying 'The Art of War' to enhance conflict resolution skills in various aspects of life.

The Art of War is recommended for multiple readings to reflect on and apply its insights to current situations.

Von Clausewitz's 'On War' is described as a dense and challenging read, with valuable but complex insights.

The speaker suggests choosing a translation of 'The Art of War' that provides context to enhance understanding.

The Art of War is categorized as a 'hammer book' for its practical advice on conflict and strategy.

Transcripts

I hate war but I am a student of war let

me explain

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about 25 years ago I read in a newspaper

an interview with a professional boxer

unfortunately I forgotten the name of

that athlete but what he said about the

act of fighting made very much sense to

me when he was asked how he prepared for

a fight he quoted from an old Chinese

book and that is the first time I heard

about this book which is called the art

of war most probably written by a

Chinese gentleman called Sun Tzu who

lived in the fifth century BC ever since

I have been fascinated by his work I

studied it and I tried to apply some of

its principles when I was still fighting

martial art competitions which is a very

long long time ago but as soon as you

read his book you realize that next to

the physical component of war and very

far away from the horrible part where

bodies clash on the battlefield and

people get killed there is a

psychological and a philosophical part

to it this part is all about reading

your opponent knowing yourself and

estimating correctly the circumstances

one of the essential parts of the

thinking of sensu is to overcome others

armies without fighting and that is

according to him the best of skills this

little booklet with only 13 chapters

provides a unique perspective on war on

strategy and on leadership throughout

the centuries this book has been very

influential to a wide variety of people

like military strategists but also

business leaders world leaders and

athletes and I find this book to be

useful for almost every human being when

we are faced with an adversary or an

opponent this can be in business in

sports as leaders of our communities or

as private persons the art of war is not

the only one of its kind there are

actually many Chinese books on warfare

and on strategy that date back to the

beginning of the Western timeline and

I'm

sure I'm gonna make another episode on

one of those books too after I read the

art of war several times I was so

impressed by the insides that it

provided that has started to search for

an equivalent order on war in the

Western world and there are several

Machiavelli for example wrote a book

with the same title the art of war by

Machiavelli but that is a rather

technical book that is very much related

to the circumstances of war in his

hometown and in the time that he lived

so what he writes is not so universal so

maybe this book is more a historical

document on warfare and there are of

course others but what a book that could

be seen as an equivalent to the great

work of sin soon in the Western world is

the book on war written by Carl von

Clausewitz and it was published by his

widow in 1832 both authors are military

strategists and between the writing of

these two books is about two thousand

years and they both have been very

influential in the military theory in

the east and in the West and they

continue to be influential even today

what I found fascinating is that there

are major differences in the way of

thinking about war and winning between

the west and the east it's a difference

that I experienced myself many times

when I was advising Western and Chinese

companies to do business with each other

what is interesting is that both authors

start from almost the same starting

point for example sunsoo opens with the

sentences war is of vital importance to

the state it is a matter of life and

death and that's why it has to be

studied thoroughly for clouds of its

States war is a serious means war is no

pastime it is no more joy in daring and

winning no place for irresponsible

enthusiasts it is a serious means to a

serious end from this and many other

parts in these books we learn that both

authors do not idolize or glorify war

thank God they don't but rather they see

as a serious matter with serious

consequences they see it as something

that is part of every state and every

country and they see it as a part of

life in general and therefore they both

want to provide the theory on how to

deal with this seemingly unavoidable

condition although they agree on several

points their theories do diverse

significantly for example from clouds of

its compares war as a duel he states

that war is nothing but a jewel on a

large scale and then he continues each

try through physical force to compel the

other to do his will

these confrontational moments and the

use of physical force are essential to

war according to food Clausewitz the

starting point of since earth is

different he states that the best policy

in war is to prevent the enemy's

strategy so instead of attacking the

enemy which is sometimes unavoidable he

prefers to attack the strategy of the

enemy instead and this is essential to

the art of Chinese strategy which is not

only applied in military settings but

also in business now how does it work

how do you attack the strategy of your

opponent well this is done by the use of

stratagems stratagems are actions that

are based on deception you can see your

true intention and instead you attack

the intention of your opponent this

might sound a bit confusing so let me

repeat number one you do not attack your

opponent number two instead you attack

the intention of your opponent through

the years and spending a lot of time as

Chinese people I learned that this is

the very essence of the art of war now

let's make this very concrete with an

example

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imagine there is a man in the fifth

century BC let's call this man mr. Corin

let's say he had a great reputation and

he is widely respected this man lives in

a village let's call this village a and

he learns that this village will be

attacked by a king from another city and

let's call the city VIII now mr. Khan

wants to prevent this from happening he

however also understands that his

village can not defend themselves

against such a strong opponent

therefore mr. Cohen who is very aware of

his reputation sends one of his students

to the king of another city let's call

the city see his student tells the king

of C that his master wants to warn him

because his master heard that the city B

is preparing to attack city see the king

of C is of course very grateful for this

information from a very trustworthy

source and he asked the student of mr.

Khan what his master would advise in

such a situation the student then said

my master advises you to attack the city

B first because they will not see that

coming so what happens next

the king of C attacks the city of the

king of B takes him by surprise and wins

the battle what is now the new situation

the city a of mr. Kong is safe from harm

the king of C is victorious and even

more powerful than before and mr. Kong

has a great new and very powerful ally

the king of C who is very grateful for

his help and his advice so Kong's

village is even more safe than before

mr. Cohen won without a fight

this is an example of the use of

deception in warfare there are so many

books written about such cases and of

course there is a moral dimension to it

as well but maybe that's something for

another episode what is now relevant for

the two books

disgust is that there is a very big

difference in the way of thinking of

western people and of Chinese people

when it comes to winning to strategy and

leadership in the book on war by

Clausewitz he also talks about

stratagems but is absolutely not in

favor of it in book 3 chapter 10 he

describes stratagems as almost something

inferior and that should only be used as

a last resource if one is confronted

with a desperate situation so that is a

very big difference from the thinking of

since ooh who puts the stratagems almost

at the center of his thinking i started

this episode we're saying that I'm a

student of war but that doesn't mean

that I like war actually the opposite is

true I like to think however that war

and peace are like two sides of the same

coin peace and stability does not come

by itself it is hard work and war I

think it can often be avoided if we know

how to do this so learning to maintain

peace and stability and to avoid or to

deal with war is I think therefore

worthwhile to study as a psychologist I

often see people that have a rather

limited skillset to deal with conflict

and often they go for the direct

confrontation and this brings often

verbal and even physical violence with

it so the art of war is a book to learn

how to fight because we have a dispute

with our neighbor or one of our kids is

bullied at school or we are facing as a

business leader a very aggressive

competitor then knowing how to overcome

these opponents without a fight as Sun

Tzu advises might be a good alternative

to the direct confrontation that is

maybe used too often

to conclude if we take the functional

book graph then the book of von

Clausewitz

on war put I would put it in the

category gems of insights because it

gives us very specific information on

warfare and on battle and it is a rather

theoretical book so not very practical

it is also a classical work and too many

it is the fundamental book on the theory

of warfare as a business leader I have

learned some valuable insights from this

book for example how to deal with

friction when you try to execute a

strategy however I found this book very

difficult to read it was originally

written in German and from Clausewitz

worked many years on it he started to

work on this book in 1816 and he worked

on it on and off always interrupted by

military campaigns and unfortunately he

could never finish the work the book

contains many very long sentences and

also has quite some contradictions in it

it is obvious that he did not have the

time to do a final and full revision of

his manuscript a year after his death in

1832 his wife Mary phone blew published

the book it is thanks to her that his

great work wasn't lost to mankind and

again it is 700 pages and it's

worthwhile to read if you're very

interested in the topic but it's very

hard to get through it

in contrast the art of war I would put

it in the category of hammer books

because it's very specific in the

provided information on war and on

dealing with conflicts but it also gives

very practical advice and advice that is

digestible now don't expect to get a one

two three steps guide on how to deal

with conflict remember this book is

written in a fifth century BC instead I

always advise to read this book maybe

several times and always underline the

sentences that triggers your mind and

makes you think maybe your underline a

sentence because you really don't like

what he's saying remember it's all about

war and winning or you underline

something because you have a new insight

that that shows you why you can't win

from your current opponent or maybe

underline a sentence because you start

to think how you should maybe do things

differently then use these underlined

sentences to reflect on your current

situation and think of how you could

apply the new insights from this book

the book is only about 60 pages and as

only 13 chapters but it is a kind of

information that only becomes tangible

and applicable when we really take the

time to reflect on what we have read and

finally when it comes to the art of war

there are many translations out there

and it's hard to say which one is the

best because they all have their

advantages if you want to pick a

translation then you could do two things

first maybe for your first book on the

art of war do not pick a literal

translation from the Chinese language

because then the text looks more like an

abstract poem and it's really hard to

study from that and second take a

translation that comes with an

introduction on the time and the context

in which this book was written that will

help a lot in understanding the text you

can find the references of the books

that I have in the notes I hope you

enjoyed this episode of both books and

bones and as always your remarks and

thoughts and ideas are very welcome

please subscribe to my vlog or my

youtube channel if you like to stay up

to date on the next

episodes of Baal books and Dawn's thank

you

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you