Systematic Political Science

 
 

The Art Of War De Novo:  Undulating Behavioral Options In The Tensor Fields Of The Strategic Battlespace

by
Dallas F. Bell, Jr.

1. On War

War can be defined as a state of struggle between opposing forces for a particular end.  Since the forces are opposed, one of the forces requires a particular end while the other force does not require that particular end.  We know that physical natural laws (NLP) exist such as gravity.  It is reasoned that for justice, a natural law (NL) of human freewill (NLF), to exist enforcement is required.  If it is spuriously thought that since justice has an eternal dimension it need not be presently enforced, then other NLF such as love need not be acted upon either.  The end required by a warring force that is most compliant with NL could be concluded to have the most just cause.

Just war(s) have been opposed by segments of societies for the stated purpose of preventing violence.  Violence means to violate or break so as to abuse.  A just war is just because it seeks to stop violations of NL.  Opposition to a just war for the reason of opposing violence suggests a lack of understanding of the meaning of violence. 

A just war is redemptive (meaning to buy back or free from harm).  A redemptive end or cause is opposed to a violent end or cause.  Redemption requires the appropriate force be used to stop the lawless force of violence.  The act of war is seen by some people as being chaotic much like seeing and hearing a crew of carpenters sawing and hammering.  This view fails to realize that is how homes are constructed and maintained. 

The writings of Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) have led some people to oppose wars due to a naïve conclusion that this is biblically supported.  They often cite the NL of not killing [1], or say that people are not to judge others [2], or point out that one's enemies should be given water and fed.[3]  Honest efforts to understand the Bible requires reading it from the explicit (perfectly clear) to the implicit (implied essence).  If a passage is implicit then it may be verified by explicit passages throughout the Bible. 

Proverbs is a book of wisdom (the application of law) as demonstrated by one verse which says that fools are to be left alone so they don't think they are wise [4] and the next verse which says fools are to be confronted to stop their stupidity.[5]   Balance of biblical teachings are necessary for understanding.

Throughout the Bible roles are assigned to individuals and the institutions of family, church, business, and government.  Individuals, families, churches and businesses are not authorized to take human life except in self-defense.  The verse in Proverbs says we are to stop the innocent from being killed.[6]  We are also told not to judge others but we know this is necessary for (government) courts to operate.[7]  Individuals are commanded to provide water and food to enemies [8] yet the government does not bear the sword in vain.[9]

Oddly, Jesus is given as an example of passivity.  The sinless (not violating NL in thought or behavior) Jesus whipped the money changers in the temple.[10]  This confirmed the Old Testament proverb that a rod is made for the back of those that are void of understanding.[11]  It is not recorded that Jesus considered the outcome of His behavior as causing those He whipped to be either more or less prone to reciprocal behavior.  It does indicate that His stopping the violations of NL was the superior response to the alternatives.  Jesus' act didn't disturb the peace because the abusers had already disturbed the peace.  Jesus, the Redeemer, restored the peace by force. 

On being questioned before allowing Himself to be unjustly crucified, Jesus said if His kingdom was of this world then His servants would fight.[12]  That act was not passive but was an offensive maneuver to achieve the strategic victory for salvation.  The record of Jesus in the New Testament confirmed the law of the Old Testament that all behaviors are not equal.  Therefore, the case is made for the necessity of domestic and foreign enforcement of justice.  This explains both why the violators of NL seek to discredit the Bible and why survival requires a bibliocentric worldview.

2. Science and Military Science

2.1. Science

In a broad sense, science is a system of attaining knowledge by verifiable means.  It is maintained that inquiry should adhere to scientific method.  Scientific method involves observation, description, prediction, control, falsifiability (eliminating plausible alternatives), and causal explanation.  The basic cycle of hypotheses, verification and formulation are composed of the elements of iterations, recursions, interleavings, and orderings of characteristics, hypotheses, predictions and experiments or tests on all the others.

It is argued that social science can't be a true science like physical science.  Social science is subjected to scientific method, as is physical science, except that the data collection, formulating and testing of hypotheses are much more complex since human intellect and freewill is involved.  Social science involves being familiar with physical science or hard science.  An equation of state is an equation describing the state of matter under a given set of physical conditions.  For example, the META formulae provide a mathematical relationship between several states associated with behavior such as theology, epistemology, individual behavior, societal behavior and eschatology.  When conditions are applied to humans, much like gold or hydrogen, a specific response is expected.  However, with humans the behavior is analyzed by a probability of options.  Those options are not infinite as demonstrated in game theory and decision theory.  If gold is heated to its melting point it will melt or if water is heated to its boiling point it will boil.  If the human body is heated to a point it will die. That observation is germane to both physical and social science.  If humans put their hand in boiling water, ceteris paribus, their reaction of pulling back their hands is virtually certain though not guaranteed.  The categories of human options react to NLF and NLP from a theological core of right and wrong.      

It may be supposed that the so-called hard sciences are in reality the least complicated sciences.  A coterie in the hard sciences fears knowing the implications of the social science.  Those in the social science may be intimidated by the rigor of the hard sciences.  That gap remains a testament to those foibles. 

2.2. Military Science

Military science encompasses the six military areas of organization, education and training, history, geography, technology and equipment, and strategy and doctrine. >Education and training would include setting boundaries of soldier's behavior with military law formed from the nation-state law.  The nation-state law is from the respective constitutional document. 

For example, George Washington's (1732-1799) General Orders of July 4, 1775, recorded in the Library of Congress say that he required observance of the articles of war established for the Governance of the army, which forbade cursing, swearing and drunkenness; And in like manner required all officers and soldiers not engaged on active duty to punctually attend divine Service to implore the blessings of heaven upon the means used for safety and service.

Washington's orders were compliant with the NLF of having no other gods, not blaspheming and keeping the Sabbath holy.  These laws were consistent with colonial laws that complied with NLF.  For example, the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut (1638-39) established the first written constitution in America and its predecessor the U.S. Constitution.  It stated the Governor and his six elected officials would have power to administer justice according to the laws established; and for want thereof according to the rule of the word of God (Bible).  A universal lawful order or laws of engagement would also be in compliance with NLF.

Karl Von Clausewitz (1780-1831) wrote that war is not an individual act but is a continuation of policy by other means.  Once the strategy of war is accepted, war must be pursued with vigor.  A business model of doing the most for the least cost or rewarding the prolonging of the effort is not acceptable.  The reality of a budget must be accommodated but cheapness is not a virtue for a just war any more than is cheapness in choosing the medicine or doctor for a seriously ill baby.

William Ross Ashby's (1903-1972) Law of Requisite Variety stipulates that the larger variety of actions available to a control system, the larger the variety of perturbations it is able to compensate.  This simple notion must be considered by probability that the more capabilities a force has the more options are available for conflict.  The largeness of available actions in a control system may not correlate to the perturbations desired and thus be irrelevant.  In other words, people that have behavior which is at times both compliant with NLF and not compliant with corresponding NLF would seem more adept at compensating life's perturbations than those that attempt to always comply with NLF.  The latter behavior may seem limited but is harmonious with NLF and offers more compensation than those that violate NLF.  The problem is in the wrong implication that there is innate efficiency in the variety as opposed to the type.  The law is shown not to be a complete statement of truth compelled by authority and so is not really a law.  The premise is more aptly described as a principle which reflects the realities of law.

3. Tensor Fields of the Strategic Battlespace

Quantum mechanics is acknowledged to be emerging from physics into non-quantum domains such as human language and political science.  Those domains are also complimented by monotonic and non-monotonic reasoning.  Monotonic logic or reasoning may be used for hypotheses of any derived fact that can be extended with additional assumptions.  Non-monotonic logic uses default reasoning (facts may be known only because of the lack of contrary evidence), abductive reasoning (deduced facts), reasoning (ignorance of the fact may be retracted when the fact is known), and belief revision (revising beliefs when new facts contradict the old facts.)

Continuum mechanics is a branch of physics that uses tensors.  A tensor (L. tensus meaning to stretch), first used in 1846, is a general linear quantity or entity that can be expressed as a multi-dimensional array relative to a choice basis.  General relativity is formulated with tensors.  A tensor field associates a tensor value with every point on a manifold.  Most quantities in the physical sciences can be expressed as tensors.

It may be helpful to use tensors for the differentiable principles for war.  The principles of war are behavioral vectors such as mass which are not directionless.  They are types of strategies in the battlespace which comply with NLF, another vector direction.  A strategic battlespace has many possible vectors or tensors.  For example, describing the response of massing in an epistemological 2 (E2) level military battle where the NLF E2 momentum is a vector which the massing military should respond with acceleration, which is also a vector.  That military acceleration may not be in the same direction as the mass.  The relationship between the military E2 momentum and acceleration is linear.  This tensor of type is 1,1 because undulating behavior or waves occur between compliance with NLF and noncompliance with NLF within the systematic political science E1, E2 and E3 vector space.  Like solitons, the conflicting behavior interacts.  The strategic battlespace is obviously composed of NLP in the physical dimensions of air, land, sea, etc.  It must also operate within NLF in the spiritual dimension.

3.1 Physical Principles or Tensors

The physical principles of war have traditionally been the milieu for the art of war.  Sun Tzu (c. 500 B.C.) wrote on the art of war from the spiritual viewpoint of Taoism.  In 390 A.D., Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus' book titled De Re Militari espoused the military principles and virtues that made Rome great, such as soldier's courage and their oath to God (the Father), Christ (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit.  Niccolo Machiavelli's (1469-1527) writings on war ignored the Christian code of chivalry and postulated that all behavior was legitimate.  Baron Antione-Henri de Jomini (1779-1869) observed that Renatus was correct that Rome was lost when its military eventually reflected its society and lost their virtue and became effeminate (like America today).  Jomini opposed sacrilege, used math in his writings, and was a rival of Clausewitz.  Clausewitz was largely influenced by Kantian philosophy.  His nine principles of physical warfare are used today by militaries.  They are verified by biblical examples from many centuries before.

--Objective [13]

--Offensive [14]

--Mass [15]

--Economy of Force [16]

--Maneuver [17]

--Unity of Command [18]

--Surprise [19]

--Security [20]

--Simplicity [21]

(Explanations and subsets of each principle are available from many texts on the subject.)

Aspects of these western principles can be found in the Russian principles of war.  They are high combat readiness, surprise, aggressiveness and decisiveness, persistence and initiative, combined arms coordination and joint operations, decisive concentration of forces, deep battle operations, information warfare, exploitation of moral/political factors, firm and continuous command and control, comprehensive combat support and timely restoration of reserves, and combat potential.

Over the years many scholars have sought to alter the nine principles with no success.  The latest trend is to add asymmetric warfare to the list.  Asymmetric warfare describes two opposing forces of unequal strength with both attempting to take advantage of strengths and weaknesses.  No two forces have ever been perfectly equal.  Asymmetric forces are just using economy of force, mass, simplicity or force multiplication such as a terrain advantage.  Biblical examples were siege [22], battering rams [23], arrows [24], etc.  In time, it is likely the asymmetric emphasis will go the way of other redundant proposals.

3.2. Spiritual Principles or Tensors

Philosophically, the laws of nature must have at some point in time come into existence due to an eternal establishing authority.  Their existence allowed for Clausewitz's principles to be noted.  The Divine authority that established the laws for the physical domain would have also established laws for a spiritual domain.  That spiritual domain would be subject to NLF as is the physical domain.  Then to ignore principles in the spiritual domain or battlespace would be as perilous as ignoring the principles in the physical domain or battlespace which Renatus and Jomini annotated.

The NLF are found in the Bible.  Therefore, it is also the likely place to find the spiritual principles of war and their implied subsets.  A major writer in the New Testament was Paul.  He was born Saul of Tarsus in Cilicia around 5 A.D.  From 20 A.D. to 25 A.D. he studied [25] with the pharisaic teacher of law, Gamaliel.  Gamaliel sat on the supreme court called the Sanhedrin.[26]  Paul quickly gained a reputation for his scholarship in law and for having a rhetoric style like Cicero.  He headed up a movement to oppose Christians.  In 35 A.D., Paul had the widely known Damascus conversion to Christianity.[27]  He was imprisoned and thought to have been beheaded by Nero in 62 or 64 A.D. for his Christian beliefs.  Some scholars believe that Paul was released and went to Asia Minor and Crete to write the biblical books of Timothy and Titus (c.62-68 A.D.)  Passages from Paul's letter to the Ephesians [28] contain spiritual principles for warfare that have been successfully used by individual soldiers* for nearly two thousand years.  The following Pauline principles of spiritual warfare reflect the new Divine covenant fulfilled in Christ Jesus.

--Faith [29]

--Salvation [30]

--Truth [31]

--Righteousness [32]

--Sword of the Spirit [33]

--Peace [34]

--Prayer and Supplication [35]

--Watching [36]

--Making known the Gospel [37]

(Explanations and subsets for each principle are alluded to in the monotonic reference material.)

The design of spiritual warfare can be seen by one or more improbable events that work together to negatively effect a situation.[38]  God says that no weapon formed against us* shall prosper.[39]  It can be reasoned that if God be for us* who can be against us*[40] because Jesus overcame the world.[41]

Soldiers* should avoid worldly (cosmos diabolicus) entanglements [42], display fruit of the Spirit [43], deny self [44], endure [45], be self-controlled [46], be alert [47], and wear the armor.[48]  Additionally, soldiers* are not to be prideful [49], or be wicked [50], or have iniquity.[51]

Biblical examples of violations of NLF.[52}

--1. Have no other gods [53]

--2. Make no graven images [54]

--3. Not take Gods name in vain [55]

--4. Keep the Sabbath holy [56]

--5. Honor parents [57]

--6. Not kill [58]

--7. Not commit adultery [59]

--8. Not steal [60]

--9. Not bear false witness [61]

--10. Not covet [62]

4. Conclusion

In looking at the art of war anew, we may determine there are many diverse tools for expressing and analyzing the principles of warfare.  The physical sciences have provided scientific method and tensor calculus, among many other devices.  Systematic political science provides the structure for the social sciences.  Combining the latest developments provides a view of the undulating behavioral options in the tensor fields of the strategic battlespace.  When the anchors of NL are applied it becomes necessary to include the nonphysical or spiritual dimension to the battlespace.  This complication forever prevents using supercomputers to successfully direct warfare.

It has been noted that NLF is cataloged in the Bible.  The Bible says wars start within ourselves [63], wars come from God's judgment [64], and wars are decreed by God.[65]  We* wrestle against principalities [66] and the foe is spiritual.  Jesus said if God were our* father we* would believe Him. [67]  But some of our fathers are the devil, and the lusts of that father we will do.  He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in truth, because there is no truth in him.  When he speaks, he speaks of his own because he is a liar and the father of it.[68]  War will exist, despite human efforts for peace, until the Prince of Peace comes.[69]

Solomon said the fool shall be servant to the wise in heart.[70]  This means that those who comply with NLF will be more efficient than those that violate NLF.  Warfare is the unfortunate response required to stop violations of NL.  This just and necessary behavior should be commanded by those* with expertise in the art of war.  It is hoped this paper has aided in that endeavor.  We* must remember that we* have power over devils but we* are to glory in salvation.[71]  The victory is already won so stand firm with the armor of God.

* Indicates individual(s) that are compliant with reference [30].

Introductory References

[1] Ex. 20:13

[2] Matt. 7:1

[3] Rom. 12:20,21

[4] Prov. 26:4

[5] Prov. 26:5

[6] Prov. 24:11-12

[7] Ex. 18:21-26; I Sam. 7:15-17; Matt. 18:15-18

[8] Rom. 12:20,21; Matt. 5:43-48

[9] Rom. 13:4

[10] Matt. 21:12; Mark 11:15

[11] Prov.18:13

[12] John 18:36

[13] Josh. 1:2-4

[14] Josh. 6:20-25

[15] I Kin. 22:31-33

[16] Judg. 7:2-8

[17] Judg. 9:34-40

[18] II Sam. 10:9-14

[19] Josh. 8:3-26

[20] Num. 13:17-30

[21] Judg. 7:16-25

[22] II Kin. 19:24

[23] Eze. 4:2

[24] II Kin. 19:32

[25] Acts 22:3

[26] Acts 5:17-42

[27] Acts 9:1-22; Phil. 3:7-9

[28] Eph. 6:11-19

[29] Heb. 11; I John 5:4,5; James 4:1-4; Matt. 21:21,22: Is. 40:31; I Sam. 5:23-25

[30] John 3:16; Eph. 2:1-10; Matt.11:27-30; Rom. 1:16,17

[31] John 17:17,19: John 4:19-24; Prov. 1:7

[32] I John 2:29; Gal. 5:16-25; I Peter 4:1-4; Rom. 3:22-26; Eph. 4:23-32

[33] Neh. 8:3; Eph. 6:11-17; Josh. 1:5-9

[34] Rom. 5:1; Is. 52:7; Matt.5:3-12; Eph. 5:21-23; Rom. 12:18,19

[35] Eph. 6:18; Ps. 139:14; Matt. 6:5-15

[36] Eph. 6:18; Eph. 5:19,20; II Tim. 1:7

[37] Eph. 6:19; Heb. 4:1-3; Rom. 12; I Cor. 12:4-30; I Tim. 3:1-13

[38] Job 1,2; II Cor. 11:24-27

[39] Is. 54:17

[40] Deut. 20

[41] John 16:33

[42] II Tim. 2:4

[43] Gal.5:22-26

[44] I Cor. 9:25-27

[45] II Tim. 2:3,10

[46] I Thess. 5:6

[47] I Cor. 16:13

[48] Eph. 6:11

[49] Ps. 10:4

[50] Ps. 66:18

[51] Job 27:9

[52] Exe. 20:3-17

[53] II Kin. 18:28-35

[54] Deut. 7:5,25

[55] I Sam. 17:40-50

[56] Jer. 17:21-27

[57] II Sam. 15:7-12

[58] II Sam. 3:26,27

[59] II Sam. 11:2-4

[60] Josh. 7:11

[61] II Sam. 15:2,3

[62] Josh. 7:21

[63] James 4:1,2

[64] II Sam. 12:10

[65] Ex. 17:16

[66] Eph. 6:12

[67] John 8:42

[68] John 8:44

[69] Eccl. 3:8; Mark 13:7; Mic. 4

[70] Prov. 11:29

[71] Luke 10:19,20

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