The Sharp End of Political Aims: Military Strategy in the Age of Taoism, Marxism, and Modernism
Abstract
The western strategist struggles to look out at the world and see any other perspective except their own reflected back because of how they define and assume the primacy of their dominant world view. When it comes to developing a military strategy, how a strategist makes sense of the world, the overall direction of their logic, as they assemble strategy, is at the heart of this inquiry. The purpose of this paper is to examine and explore Taoism, Marxism, and Modernism as three different approaches to developing a military strategy. How each develops knowledge and frames reality shapes how they crystallize their thinking about the interaction of power, war, warfare, and morality in the development of military strategy. By understanding the broad assumptions about the knowledge and reality of each approach it helps to expose the differences between in the processes of making strategy. Exposing the gaps helps to increase the practice wisdom, the interaction of theory, philosophy, and subjective experience, of the western strategist. This more comprehensive understanding improves the process of strategy development by decreasing complexity of meta-assumptions, which facilitates capturing emergence and enabling the strategist to respond with spontaneity.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 23, 2019
- Accession Number
- AD1083657
Entities
People
- Robert Ii A. Silvas
Organizations
- United States Army Command and General Staff College