The Rules of Victorious Warriors Logical and Game Theoretical aspects of Strategy Theory in ancient China draft

Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win. This phrase, attributed to Sun Tzu in his book “The Art of War”, is a strong recommendation for generals to analyse a combat scenario before actually engaging in combat. This analysis can be understood to require some form of game analysis. In this paper we will discuss whether it is appropriate to ascribe a game theoretical perspective to the ancient Chinese strategical thinkers. In addition we search for indications in ancient Chinese history and literature or tradition whether Chinese warriors actually used game analytic principles in their strategic considerations. We also indicate aspects of these stories which illustrate interesting connections to game theoretical concepts. This paper is a stand alone version of a draft chapter in the forthcoming handbook of logical thought in China.