A CULTURAL GENEALOGY OF STRATEGIC RATIONALITY A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Georgetown University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Liberal Studies By Gino R LaPaglia, M.S. Washington, DC April 10, 2018 Copyright 2018 by Gino R LaPaglia All Rights Reserved !ii A CULTURAL GENEALOGY OF STRATEGIC RATIONALITY Gino R. LaPaglia, M.S. Thesis Advisor: Francis Ambrosio, Ph.D ABSTRACT I construct in this thesis a cultural genealogy to trace in Western civilization a consistent set of values that underlie a worldview that I call Strategic Intelligence (SI). I argue that the plethora of cultural data indicates the presence both of an underlying strategic rationality and a metaphorological paradigm that functions at a level that is more expansive than the terminological and conceptual. I conclude that the values of SI have been transmitted in cultural sources for thousands of years, in multiple cultures. Invested with the highest forms of authority, the continuous transmission of the values of SI in two distinct civilizations (European, Chinese) over the trajectory of their unique cultural evolution provides evidence for the authority, legitimacy and potency of this ancient framework of meaning as fundamental to culture. (Keywords: Strategic Intelligence, Strategic Rationality, Philosophy of Strategy, Philosophical Anthropology, Hermeneutic Philosophy, Axiology, Metaphorical Analysis, Cultural Studies, Mētic) !iii The research and writing of this thesis is dedicated to everyone who helped along the way. Foremost, I would like to express my gratitude to the two professors who most influenced the course of my doctoral studies, my advisor Dr. Frank Ambrosio, and Dr. Jo Ann Moran Cruz. Dr. Moran Cruz helped me connect with the Western cultural heritage, and Dr. Ambrosio focused my attention on what is fundamental in culture. I am also very grateful to Dr. Carol Benedict and Dr. James Millward for their generous time and thoughtful insights—without them I would not have been able to finish this cross- cultural study. All served as master navigators who successfully saw me through the Odyssean journey that became this thesis. This marathon could not have been completed without the unwavering support of my loving family, James, Nino, Poppy Ann, and my writing companions Morpheus and Leo. I am blessed to have them in my life. Many thanks, Gino LaPaglia !iv TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ..............................................................................................1 LITERATURE REVIEW ...............................................................................................................................8 METHODOLOGY AND ANALYTIC FRAMEWORK ......................................................................................20 STRATEGIC RATIONALITY IN CULTURE ..................................................................................................35 CHAPTER SUMMARIES ............................................................................................................................52 CHAPTER II STRATEGIC INTELLIGENCE IN GRECO-ROMAN CULTURE ......................54 HESIOD’S THEOGONY............................................................................................................................. 58 HOMER’S ODYSSEY ................................................................................................................................65 CHAPTER III THE HUNT AS GAME .........................................................................................79 CHAPTER IV HOLY STRATEGIC INTELLIGENCE ..............................................................104 HOLY SI IN THE JUDAIC LEGACY .........................................................................................................105 HOLY SI IN THE CHRISTIAN TRADITION (CLASSICAL - MEDIEVAL) .....................................................113 CHAPTER V SECULAR STRATEGIC INTELLIGENCE ........................................................131 LATE ANTIQUITY - MEDIEVAL ..............................................................................................................131 RENAISSANCE: SI IN SPANISH PICARESQUE .........................................................................................152 RENAISSANCE: SI IN ITALIAN RENAISSANCE DRAMA .........................................................................162 CHAPTER VI CHINESE STRATEGIC INTELLIGENCE ........................................................174 TOWARDS A GLOBAL SI .......................................................................................................................175 THEORY OF THE THICK AND BLACK (HÒUH"IXUÉ 厚⿊学) ..............................................................203 CHAPTER VII CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................214 APPENDIX A ......................................................................................................................................218 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................................219 v LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1. PHYLOGENESIS OF STRATEGIC RATIONALITY IN CULTURE ........................1 FIGURE 2. NGRAM ANALYSIS OF ‘STRATEGIC INTELLIGENCE’ ......................................2 FIGURE 3. NGRAM ANALYSIS OF ‘STRATEGIC CULTURE’ .................................................3 FIGURE 4. MARS AND VENUS CAUGHT IN VULCAN’S TRAP ..........................................54 FIGURE 5. THE PUNISHMENT OF PROMETHEUS ...............................................................64 FIGURE 6. HÒUH"I IN THE PRC INTELLECTUAL ECOSYSTEM .....................................190 FIGURE 7. PERCENTAGE CHANGE/INCREASE PER DOMAIN ........................................191 vii Pope Francis: holy cunning: “a spiritual shrewdness which enables us to recognize danger and to avoid it” 2014 FIGURE 1. PHYLOGENESIS STRATEGIC OF RATIONALITY IN CULTURE πρώτη σοφία αιόλα αιόλαβουλονRenaissance Italian δολόμητις Z ῖ ῦ fallacia alia aliam trudit πολυμηχανος salubre mendacium δολίης consilium eus γεννα ον ψε δος Pícaro sollertia The Cultural Genealog Plato Metis Spain Thrones Game of Livy: Golden Age Guzmán de Alfarache de Guzmán Prometheus Hippias Xenophon Momus Lesser Rogues Mandra Gli Rape of Abu Al gola Odysseus Fath al- Iskandari- Sword The La Ingannat Simplicius Simplicissimus Simplicius Abu Abu Nugae Lazarillo Penelope Sabine CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION Trojan Horse Trojan Lena Plato Republic Plato Philotectes House Autolycus Z i aid El Buscón El Consolation de and Women Boethius Sisyphus Oppian Trifles Tormes Guicciardini of The Stone Athena Cards Juan Ovid Mestra Aesop Fox Ridicula Heroic Merlin Aeneid John of Salisbury of John Luis Book Jungle Momus Q Antiope Map Walter ueen Medb Vives Artemis Metis Horace Rapes of Golden Ass Venus Machiavelli Nausicaa Hera Z y ootopia + of Strategic Intelligence Reynart Fr. Baltasar Gracián Seth Cunning Z Danae Fox !1 Leda the eus Satyricon Loki Europa Helen Clever prophets Devious Patriarchs mousetrap a is Cross Hebrew Midwives Hebrew Joseph Ganymede Chrysostom John Jerome Rape Ja Hebrew Warriors Solomon Ambrose Origen Bernard of Clairvoux Abram el muscipula diaboli muscipula Bishop Heriger Rahab Jacob of Clement Dinah Samuel Elisha David Moses the fishhook of divinity J ochebed John of Damascus Peter & Paul saints: Gregory Nazianzus Gregory of Nyssa of Gregory Joshua TricksterTheodulf John Cassian St. Foy Rachel victor Gideon Jesus Serpent Christus of Gino LaPaglia Judith Jael Tamar Orleáns Jehu Ehud Ransom Esther Theory Irenaeus δολόφρων providentia solaria durum facta πόρε πολυτρόπως solaria durum facta κερδαλέοι dolus ars βουλάσ ωκυνόυς calliditas The terms strategic intelligence and strategic culture are relatively new paradigms for analysis in international relations theory, political and military science, business management, and executive leadership. Figures 2 and 3 feature a Google Ngram analysis of these terms and show the increasing prevalence and importance of these terms in English. The spike of interest in the late 1970’s in the concept of SI may be related to Jack Snyder’s 1977 Rand report “The Soviet Strategic Culture: Implications for Limited Nuclear Options,” which provided an early definition for strategic culture as the “sum total of ideals, conditional emotional responses, and patterns of habitual behaviour that members of the national strategic community have acquired through instruction or imitation and share with each other with regard to…strategy”. 1 FIGURE 2. NGRAM ANALYSIS OF ‘STRATEGIC INTELLIGENCE’ The Journal of Strategic Intelligence, an on-line periodical that began publishing in 2016 by the National Intelligence University (NIU), one of a handful of universities that train students for a masters degree in SI, defines strategic intelligence as a field which offers “a comprehensive 1 Jack L. Snyder, The Soviet Strategic Culture: Implications for Nuclear Options, R-2154-AF (Santa Monica, Calif.: Rand Corporation, 1977). See also Alastair I. Johnston, “Thinking about Strategic Culture” International Security, 19, 4 (Spring 1995), 32-64 http://www.fb03.uni-frankfurt.de/45431264/Johnston-1995- Thinking-about-Strategic-Culture.pdf (accessed 27 April, 2017) !2 understanding of current or emerging regional and transnational issues broadly that will significantly impact national security or interests.”2