First Principles Thinking
Tags: #🌲evergreen
Links: Mental Models | Creativity
A process where you break a problem into its atomic and fundamental elements and build an understanding from the ground up. [1]
A first principle is a basic proposition that can't be deduced from other propositions, an axiom. [2]
By performing FPT we can decide if the existing methods make sense. Surprisingly, many times they don't.
“As to methods, there may be a million and then some, but principles are few. The man who grasps principles can successfully select his own methods. The man who tries methods, ignoring principles, is sure to have trouble.”
— Harrington Emerson
When to apply FPT
- when you are doing something for the first time
- when dealing with lots of complexity
- trying to understand a situation that you are having problems with
First Principles and Analogical Reasoning
A lot of times people reason by analogy. They may copy a pattern of behavior that worked in another context for someone else and be successful. However, when something goes wrong they don't know what to do. The difference between reasoning by analogy and by first principles is the same differente as being a cook or a chef.
When you reason by analogy you are limiting your Perspective by what was possible before or was achieved in the past or conventional wisdom.
Techniques
Some ways to induce FPT.
Socratic Questioning
Questioning method designed to draw out first principles in a systematic manner.
Five Whys Technique
This technique is often used by children.
Quotes
“To understand is to know what to do.”
— Wittgenstein
People that notoriously apply FPT
- @Elon Musk
- @Jon Steinberg, founder of BuzzFeed