Philosophy Driving Ontology: Ideas from the Past Influencing the Future of Command (and Control)

摘要

Invariably, every issue concerning command and control evolves into a discussion of information reliability and validity. How much should commanders trust the data they perceive. How much data should they trust if they perceive it indirectly through hardware and software. Answering them well will determine how an advanced command concept will emerge. Yet they reflect one of the oldest philosophical questions known to humans: how does one know. This paper provides insight by describing the relevant ideas on command from two classical political philosophers, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Thomas Hobbes. Policy echoes of these philosophers' ideas compete in the current (and future) command and control environment in the debate on how the military should utilize communications advances (e.g. Facebook and Twitter.) Tying these echoes to modern command doctrine are the thoughts of the late D.M. Malone and John Boyd. Both understand the world in Hobbesian terms, yet endeavor to evolve their professional institutions into a Rosseau-like world. The key to such successful evolution is the development of mutual respect and appreciation leading to implicit trust among members of the same organization. This paper concludes with some implications of these ideas as applied to current and future command and control venues.