Key Arguments

• He defines each factor’s content and relevance to operations (e.g., environment, terrain, leadership virtues, organization)
• Mastery of these factors predicts victory; ignorance predicts failure

Source Quotes

3. The art of war, then, is governed by five constant factors, to be taken into account in one’s deliberations, when seeking to determine the conditions obtaining in the field. 4.

4. These are: (1) The Moral Law; (2) Heaven; (3) Earth; (4) The Commander; (5) Method and discipline. 5, 6.

5, 6. The MORAL LAW causes the people to be in complete accord with their ruler, so that they will follow him regardless of their lives, undismayed by any danger. 7.

7. HEAVEN signifies night and day, cold and heat, times and seasons. 8.

8. EARTH comprises distances, great and small; danger and security; open ground and narrow passes; the chances of life and death. 9.

9. The COMMANDER stands for the virtues of wisdom, sincerely, benevolence, courage and strictness. 10.

10. By METHOD AND DISCIPLINE are to be understood the marshaling of the army in its proper subdivisions, the graduations of rank among the officers, the maintenance of roads by which supplies may reach the army, and the control of military expenditure. 11.

11. These five heads should be familiar to every general: he who knows them will be victorious; he who knows them not will fail. 12.

Key Concepts

• The art of war, then, is governed by five constant factors, to be taken into account in one’s deliberations, when seeking to determine the conditions obtaining in the field.
• These are: (1) The Moral Law; (2) Heaven; (3) Earth; (4) The Commander; (5) Method and discipline.
• The MORAL LAW causes the people to be in complete accord with their ruler, so that they will follow him regardless of their lives, undismayed by any danger.
• HEAVEN signifies night and day, cold and heat, times and seasons.
• EARTH comprises distances, great and small; danger and security; open ground and narrow passes; the chances of life and death.
• The COMMANDER stands for the virtues of wisdom, sincerely, benevolence, courage and strictness.
• By METHOD AND DISCIPLINE are to be understood the marshaling of the army in its proper subdivisions, the graduations of rank among the officers, the maintenance of roads by which supplies may reach the army, and the control of military expenditure.
• These five heads should be familiar to every general: he who knows them will be victorious; he who knows them not will fail.

Context

Chapter i. Laying Plans (lines 58–123); definitional framework establishing the five constants as the basis for strategic assessment.