Sun Tzu strategies is described as "peaceful and passive, favoring silence over speech". This form of communication is parsimonious. Parsimonious behavior, which is highly emphasized in "The Art of War" as avoiding confrontation and being spiritual in nature, shapes basic principles in Daoism. Mark McNeilly writes in "Sun Tzu and the Art of Modern Warfare" that a modern interpretation of Sun and his importance throughout Chinese history is critical in understanding China's push to becoming a superpower in the twenty-first century. Modern Chinese scholars explicitly rely on historical strategic lessons and "The Art of War" in developing their theories, seeing a direct
Book of the 24 Philosophers Book of the 24 Philosophers The Book of the 24 Philosophers (in Latin "Liber XXIV philosophorum") is a philosophical and theological medieval text of uncertain authorship. The book consists of twenty-four “sentences”, “aphorisms” or “definitions” of “God”, attributed to as many philosophers attending a fictional gathering, each an attempt to answer their only remaining question, “what is God?” ("quid Deus?"). The first textual witness is from a 12th-century French manuscript currently at Laon. The definitions were often accompanied by a scholastic commentary in either of two redactions, the “shorter” and the “longer” commentary. Both definitions and commentary echo and weave