| Sun Tzu on the Art of War(STAW),is one of the most influential military books in China.It mainly elaborates military ideas,utilitarian values,and tactics of war.This thesis starts with the military ethics thought contained in STAW,based on the original intention,combined with the later generations’ understanding of the military ethics thought of STAW,trying to construct a military ethical thought system of STAW.Unlike other similar studies,this thesis pays more attention to reviewing the military ethics and wisdom of STAW based on reviewing the military ethics of STAW into the framework of ethical thinking,to break through the concept of military ethics.Therefore,we need to think about: First,what is the cultural origin of military ethics in STAW? Second,what are the main contents of military ethics in STAW? Third,what are the characteristics of military ethics in STAW? Fourth,what are the theoretical value and practical significance of military ethics in STAW?With the questions mentioned above,this article starts with a literature review and investigates them individually.As early as the period of the Spring and Autumn and the Warring states,there already existed research on the military ethics of STAW.In the Ming Dynasty,the traditional studies almost reached the peak of studying the military ethics of STAW.At the end of the Qing Dynasty,those studies entered a new era using modern philosophical thinking.The previous researches are full of great achievements.In terms of theoretical origin,this article believes that Sun Tzu was mainly influenced by Zhou Yi and Lao Tzu,where the former opened the Chinese tradition of ethical self-examination of war.Some essential categories and ideological methods of Lao Tzu also had a direct impact.This article is based on the research results of the military ethics of STAW in the past.From the perspective of the justice of war,the military ethics of STAW is examined.It is recognized that the “commander-general-soldier” military ethics subject relationship and its morality requirements put forward the enemy’s principle,victory in war without fighting.Through the ideological comparison between Lao Tzu,Confucius and Sun Tzu in the same era as Sun Tzu,the specific characteristics of military ethics in STAW are briefly summarized: a reasonable understanding of the relationship between righteousness and foxiness as well as honest and trickery.The pursuit of“completeness is the best” gives “brave” virtue the most important position in the ranking of values,and it shows that the most critical feature of the military ethics of STAW is its intellectual virtue.The value of intellectual virtue in STAW is that it helps to fill in the shortcomings of the lack of intellectual virtue compared with traditional Chinese culture and Western culture.The viewpoints and conclusions drew from this thesis will make the branch research of STAW more elaborate;this thesis more thoroughly demonstrates the high value of the military ethics of STAW;this makes our understanding of military ethics of STAW more comprehensive.However,it should be pointed out here that the military ethics of STAW excessively emphasizes the role of human beings,with insufficient content on elaborating two military elements,i.e.military training and weapon equipment,and the spirit of duty to treat military personnel with an exchanged attitude.This needs to be recognized in future learning and application of STAW. |
