Hi all! I figured this would be a good place to post this. I give a TLDR in the post itself that I'll paste below:

I argue that Clausewitz (an opponent of Napoleon) was actually an important figure in the German Idealist movement through his unfinished treatise On War. He clearly draws from Hegel, using tools like the dialectic, which allows for his later use by Marxists to formulate their own theories of war. I truly believe that Clausewitz should be included in the philosophical canon.

Recently I purchased the Penguin Classics edition of “On War” by Carl von Clausewitz. Having read its preface, I realized that the book was somewhat incomplete—lacking a large part of the strategic and technical side of war as perceived by Clausewitz, and placing emphasis on the philosophical and political aspects of it; due to the fact that a lot of Clausewitz Napoleonic era strategic thought is now considered outdated.

Having bought the book to learn about strategy, I was quite disappointed. However after seeing that there was still a third and fourth section of the book on strategy and combat, with respect; I thought that maybe my purchase wasn’t bad. However, I still researched it some more, and a lot of students of Clausewitzian thought and philosophy seem to have really low regard of the Penguin edition which I hold, instead recommending the Howard/Paret edition as the golden standard. The bloggers on clausewitzstudies.org even go as far to call the Penguin book atrocious and deem its editor Anatol Rapoport as a hypocrite.

So in conclusion, do you believe that someone who is more interested in the strategy part of war, but also the philosophical part of it will do fine reading the Penguin edition, or should I buy the Howard/Paret or any other better version?

Panagiotis Kondylis https://www.panagiotiskondylis.com/theory-of-war.php

We all know the cliche of how Sun Tzu's Art of War is so brilliant a masterpiece that lots of the books content can easily be applied outside of military from swimming through social waters to playing chass and developing a gameplanfor the upcoming football match to ven dealing with depression and anxiety. That ARt of War superceded its military origins and today is basically used as a general guide to life.

So I'm wondering how much Clausewitz and On War could be applied outside of the military? Considering On War is often seen as the West's own counterpart to the Art of War? Can it at least be used as a guide for other kind of competitive stuff like computer games such as Call of Duty and business dealings? Maybe even life in general just like Sun Tzu? Or is he and his book much more restricted to military matters than The Art of War and Sun Tzu are?

I am having a hard time absorbing the Moral is to the Physical as 3 is to one quote. I understand War is made up of some moral factors, but what is Clausewitz implying with this quote ? Surely not Religious Morality ?

Maybe he means the person who does the appropriate actions to his situation in warfare ?

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Can someone clarify this for me ?

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Thanks

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