curated · learning
First Principles
Reason from the irreducibles, but earn the right to first.
Origin: Aristotle; revived in modern usage by physicists and (more loosely) startup discourse
The model
Reduce a problem to its irreducible truths — propositions that cannot be deduced from anything more basic — and reason up from there, rather than reasoning by analogy to existing solutions. The tradition runs from Aristotle's Posterior Analytics through Descartes to the working physicist who reaches for it whenever the textbook answer breaks.
When to reach for it
- When the conventional approach concretely fails the situation and you have a clear account of which premise it is failing on.
- In domains where you have done the foundational learning and have earned the standing to question the defaults.
When not to
- As a rhetorical move to dismiss the conventional answer without engaging with it.
- In domains where you have not yet learned what the defaults are. You cannot reason "from first principles" against assumptions you have not understood.
Sources
- Aristotle — Posterior Analytics
- René Descartes — Discourse on the Method (1637)