First we must be aware of the background of Sun Tzu : the author of this classic. Sun Tzu was a Chinese Military General. The General introduces his book as an account of the observations he made during his career, the tactics & strategies he used/learnt and the profound knowledge he gained during his adventures as a Commander of fighting men ! ( To learn more about him, Go to Sun Tzu )
Many of his sentences from his book are already famous today as 'Quotes' about strategy. The word 'Strategy' is a miracle ! Many people have tried to define it in strict sense. But the contexts it has are so many; that the word has become to fit it in a hard & fast definition. Today's context related to it are
- Military Science (Off course, as it is the birthplace of strategy)
- Politics
- Business World
- Sports(Especially the game of Chess !) and many others !
That's why we find it harder to define 'Strategy' in a stricter sense. But personally, I love a definition of 'Strategy', which I read in a book related to 'Chess' i.e. "Strategy is a long range master plan"... Sun Tzu has made a tremendous contribution to 'Strategic' aspects of Human at large through his book - "Art of War" !
Many critics can find a point to take dig at this creation of Sun Tzu; by saying that it is focused on 'outdated' things of Military Science. The logic behind this criticism is so simple as Sun Tzu has written the book in an era, where Horse was the best means of transportation, Sword was popular and Guns were in their early childhood ! ( You can take the state of technology of guns at Sun Tzu's time as 'Infant Age' of Gun-Tech !) Today's military where we are very near to a day, when Robots will be doing the job on battlegrounds and men (and women) will control them sitting in front of a smarter generation of computers. So, many tips provided by our Ancient Chinese General like 'Use of Fire', 'Siege of Cities' seem sheer history with no present significance ! Secondly, pseudo-feminists can make a point against Sun Tzu by saying that he has made a 'Cruel' bias by writing 'Men' only and ignoring 'Women' ! But (as usual ? !!) they can't prove him guilty as he has written the book when even out-of-box thinkers hadn't any idea of 'Women in battleground' ... !!
But the first point of criticism is serious, thus worthy of counter ! If we think rationally and bit more wisely; we can find the point ! Charles Dawrin has his fame for research work about Neanderthal and Homo Sapiens. Newton is famous for his preliminary ideas about gravity, Farade for his bulb and Watson for his steam-engine ! Now applying the logic (previously applied for Sun Tzu), we have to term these guys from science field as outdated and useless at present ( much more advanced ) state of technology !! Now you have the point clear in your mind !
To sum up, however advanced any field/science/art has evolved, the fundamentals of it can never loose their significance ! Thus, I am sure that whenever any wise student will start his study of Military Science or Strategy also; it will be incomplete if the book 'Art of War' is ignored !