Setting the Categorical Hydra Ablaze. Cover Image

Spálenie kategorickej hydry
Setting the Categorical Hydra Ablaze.

Applying Clausewitz to the Fallacies of War Categorisation

Author(s): Samuel Žilinčík
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Military policy
Published by: Univerzita obrany
Keywords: Categorisation; War; Strategic Theory; Clausewitz; Violence

Summary/Abstract: This research aims to expose the fallacious thinking which enables some of the categories of war to proliferate despite their questionable analytical usefulness. For this purpose, the author uses the method of theoretical analysis. These are the confusion about the nature of war and peace, the emphasis on novelty, and the attempts to capture war as a static phenomenon. The fallacies identified are the prevalence of legalistic lenses over strategic lenses, the false equivalence between military and non-military instruments, the ignorance of the empirical evidence, the ignorance of the dynamic nature of war and the neglect of the adversary as a crucial component of war.

  • Issue Year: 19/2019
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 39-54
  • Page Count: 16
  • Language: English