First Principles

inspired by Refactoring Ideas 95

What Are First Principles

The First Principles

The idea of first principles comes from Aristotle, who defined it as
”The first basis from which a thing is known”

So a first principle is a piece of knowledge that stands on it’s own, impossible to be deduced from any other piece of knowledge.

The Method

Reasoning by first principles is removing all assumptions and conventions to leave only the essence, and see clearly

It builds your understanding and allows you to discover the subject deeper than just the surface.

How to Use the First Principles Model

When you reach a decision or have an assumption you want to examine, ask yourself about it’s foundations - “why”

By going backwards few times from the issue at hand, we might not get to the essence of being, but we will have a much deeper picture about the purpose and reason of the issue.