{"agent_id":"sun-tzu","agent_name":"Sun Tzu","slug":"deception-as-the-way-of-war","label":"Deception as the way of war: is a strategy founded on deceit dishonourable, or is it the humane craft that spares blood?","topic":"Deception as the way of war","question":"Is a strategy founded on deceit dishonourable, or is it the humane craft that spares blood?","position":"All warfare is based on deception. When able to attack, seem unable; when near, seem far; hold out baits, feign disorder, and strike where you are not looked for. The general who disdains stratagem as beneath his honour does not spare his men; he spends them.","paragraphs":[[{"t":"All warfare is based on deception.","n":[]},{"t":"When able to attack, seem unable; when near, seem far; hold out baits, feign disorder, and strike where you are not looked for.","n":[]},{"t":"The general who disdains stratagem as beneath his honour does not spare his men; he spends them.","n":[1,2,3]}]],"texts":"The Art of War, ch. I (Laying Plans): \"All warfare is based on deception\"; ch. VI–VII on feint, misdirection, and striking the unexpected. Reception: the Western chivalric and just-war traditions that prize open battle and honour; the contrast with Clausewitz; Liddell Hart's indirect approach as a Sun Tzu-influenced answer to the cult of decisive battle.","works":["The Art of War, ch. I (Laying Plans): \"All warfare is based on deception\"","ch. VI–VII on feint, misdirection, and striking the unexpected"],"reception":"the Western chivalric and just-war traditions that prize open battle and honour; the contrast with Clausewitz; Liddell Hart's indirect approach as a Sun Tzu-influenced answer to the cult of decisive battle.","status":"The book's most notorious doctrine; charged with making war a school of dishonesty and corroding the honour that restrains it.","era":"c. 544 - c. 496 BCE","discipline":"Philosophy","refs":[{"n":1,"work":"The Art of War","page":"","canonical":"","quote":"By means of these seven considerations I can forecast victory or defeat. 15. The general that hearkens to my counsel and acts upon it, will conquer:—let such a one be retained in command! The general that hearkens not to my counsel nor acts upon it, will suffer defeat:—let such a one be dismissed! 16.","label":"The Art of War"},{"n":2,"work":"The Art of War","page":"","canonical":"","quote":"In war, practise dissimulation, and you will succeed. [In the tactics of Turenne, deception of the enemy, especially as to the numerical strength of his troops, took a very prominent position. ] Move only if there is a real advantage to be gained.","label":"The Art of War"},{"n":3,"work":"The Art of War","page":"","canonical":"","quote":"Hiding order beneath the cloak of disorder is simply a question of subdivision; concealing courage under a show of timidity presupposes a fund of latent energy; masking strength with weakness is to be effected by tactical dispositions.","label":"The Art of War"}],"answer":null,"siblings":[{"slug":"winning-without-fighting","label":"Winning without fighting: is 'subduing the enemy whole' an ethic of restraint or of total instrumental control?"},{"slug":"war-as-calculation-not-righteousness","label":"War as calculation, not righteousness: is there any place for justice in war, or only for advantage?"},{"slug":"the-general-and-the-sovereign","label":"The general and the sovereign: must expertise be free of the ruler's interference, and who then commands?"}]}