“The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.” Sun Tzu – Conflict

Transcript

Steve Fouts  00:00

Hey everybody, Steve and Dan Fouts here. We are teaching different with Chinese philosopher Sun Tzu with a quote about conflict. “The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.” I would start this conversation by talking about the phrase “supreme art of war” to make sure that there’s a common understanding. This is really a big conflict that Sun Tzu is offering advice about. Conflict is something that all people deal with throughout their lives. Some people develop really good coping mechanisms for dealing with conflict. Some people win consistently, while others don’t handle conflict as well. Some try to avoid conflicts. I think the quote is really good for a conversation. Let’s get to the claim that Sun Tzu is making. What do you think the claim is? 

Dan Fouts  01:18 – Claim

Well, he’s a military strategist. So, like you said, he’s referring to war in general. To personalize this, I think his wisdom suggests that we shouldn’t use violence and fighting to achieve our ends, whatever it is that we want. There’s an art to winning that occurs when you use nonviolent methods. Persuasion might be a strategy that you can use to win in a conflict situation with somebody. Instead of resorting to fighting, you use logical arguments. That’s just one example. You could approach a conflict with kindness. Because you were kind, you were able to get what you wanted.  

Steve Fouts  02:15

I like the kindness approach. A lot of younger people fall into the camp of wanting to avoid conflict. Some students get a reputation for being kind. It’s one way that they deal with human relationships, and sometimes they’re the most successful people. They’re well liked, and they serve as role models on some level. With the storytelling, you could ask the students to talk about a time when they used persuasion to convince somebody of something. Did it work? Why did it work? What was the advantage of using persuasion or kindness, instead of fighting?  Help them understand why and how they’re making that decision. They have plenty to choose from. Conflicts are happening all the time. It should be really easy to elicit some stories to get this conversation kicked off. They can speak about conflicts with friends, parents, siblings…

Dan Fouts  03:41

Sure, or a teacher. There could be so many stories to tell. 

Steve Fouts  03:54

Absolutely. The counterclaim to this quote is really going to heat up this conversation. There’s another way to look at strategies for winning and getting what you want. Fighting is one for some people. What’s the best way to state the counterclaim for a quote like this? 

Dan Fouts  04:20 – Counterclaim

Stand up for yourself. Confront. Fight. You could literally think fighting, and I guess that might be necessary sometimes in dramatic situations, but you can think of fighting as standing up and confronting someone who’s bullying or criticizing you. That can be a very effective means of dealing with the situation. You can’t be persuasive and kind all of the time. 

Steve Fouts  04:49

What happens when that’s not working, and somebody’s taking advantage of the situation. In cases when someone is confrontational, getting what they want, but people are getting hurt, maybe fighting is a good idea. Some people are going to argue that fighting was what was needed to get the best out of a situation. 

Dan Fouts  05:26

This is a delicate one, because we teach kids that fighting is wrong. But, in certain situations being aggressive, confrontational, or defending someone else, could be a good thing. This will stretch your mind. 

Steve Fouts  06:13

Another thing I like about this quote is that it’s going to bring up this idea of impulse control. Another story you could ask the students to share is, how did you react when you felt that impulse to fight, but then you were able to stop it? You knew that it wasn’t going to do any good, so you swallowed your pride. Get them to become aware of those times when they made these decisions, sometimes instantly. Should I react? How should I react to this situation? 

Dan Fouts  06:57

This is a lifelong skill.

Steve Fouts  07:01 – Essential Question

Yeah, and it’s a great quote to kick things off with. Here’s an essential question that you could use to wrap up the conversation. Is fighting the best way to get what you want? Hopefully, after the conversation, there’s a better sense of the criteria that you might apply to different situations to decide whether fighting is appropriate. What does fighting mean? What are different ways that you can fight? This can help some kids who lack impulse control to fsee that they have the power to make a choice. They don’t always have to resort to anger. It could be really impactful for a kid who lacks impulse control to listen to another kid talk about how he or she thinks before confronting, or fighting. That would be a really good lesson. On the flip side, it would be great for a kid who avoids conflict to hear a story from one of their friends who stood up for themselves and how it worked out. It may give them courage. Learning could occur in all kinds of different directions. 

We hope you enjoyed Sun Tzu. Make sure you visit our Conversation Library where we have many conversations like this, each with a different quote, a sample claim, counterclaim, and an essential question to get you started. We will see you soon. 

Dan Fouts  09:25

All right. Take care