A Study Of "the Highest Good Realm" Of Sun Tzu's Thought

This thesis, which takes Sun Tzu, the great military thinker and military theoretician living in the last stage of the Spring and Autumn Period, and his military science work Sun Tzu's Art of War as its research objects, discusses the issue of "the highest good" in his military thought from the ethics perspective. It aims to distinguish "the highest good" realm of Sun Tzu's thought in military art from that in social moral life to study the concept of "the good", and draws some illumination: "the good" has the characteristic of relativity, not being absolute or sole but one of many coexisting entities in bearing.Its content mainly consists of three parts.First, it explores the implications of "the highest good." The sense of "the highest good" commonly employed in the ethics is regarded as general for it is of the criterion of moral judgment. Both Chinese and foreign philosophers have a similar understanding of "the highest good": it is the acme of "the good." Confucians, especially two main representative personages Zhu Xi and Wang Yangming of the idealist philosophy of the Song and Ming dynasties, interpret it differently. Sun Tzu, who has an unusual identity of serviceman, has formed his own interpretation of "the highest good" different from that in moral sense provided by various theories of the ancient and modern both domestically and abroad. It can be defined as an extremely sober and calm and rational attitude in realizing the goal of obtaining the maximal military benefits. It is actually "the highest good" in the sense of pragmatism in war.Second, it analyzes the content of Sun Tzu's "the highest good." "The highest good realm" of Sun Tzu's thought can be understood in two levels: the ideal level of "no fight surrendering the enemy," and the realistic level of "action when profitable...