On First Principles Thinking
Some companies are institutions of “first principles thinking.” I’ll build up the term by discussing its components and comment on the importance to any innovative endeavor.
“Principle” dates back to 14th century and included meanings of originality, beginnings, and primacy (e.g. The soul is an active principle). Cotemporal was the very beginnings of the Renaissance, the great rebirth of reason. Western culture shed centuries of religious, dogmatic rule and had many iconoclastic uses for such a word.
A generalized term for beginnings or foundations is useful when considering many possibilities of that kind and is not so useful when there is only one. In the same way, the “animal” is a ridiculous concept in a world comprising solely cats. Perhaps that’s why the word came about then. We leveled up and got a new concept.
The modern “first principle” is true to its origins. Primacy is explicit in the two-word phrase. While, “the first principle of the Universe is the Big Bang” doesn’t make much sense, “the first principle of Democracy is that all people are created equal” does because Democracy is an idea. So, perhaps we can say, a first principle is an idea that is the beginning of other ideas.
What is it for an idea to begin another? The ideas must be connected by reason. Hunger is not a first principle of surliness, though the ideas are connected. Nor is Joe’s idea the first principle of Susie’s idea even though Joe’s idea may cause Susie’s (e.g. Joe says, “let’s go to the bank”). So not just any connection will do, only one born by reason.
First principles thinking is a style of thinking that employs first principles in a special way. It asserts first principles and reasons from them to conclusions. Interestingly, those first principles need not be true or believed. First principles thinking is just a method where some ideas are determined as first and that others reasonably follow.
Contrast this with root cause thinking where the direction of derivation is opposite. We start at the end and find the beginning. Or further afield, consensus reasoning where ideas are reached by adopting what is widely believed. Reasoning from feelings is a useful method too. These methods all have a proper place in life and so does first principles thinking.
First principles thinking leads to beautifully novel and effective ideas, things we could never have conceived without it. Henry Ford’s quote, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses” wonderfully contrasts consensus reasoning and first principles thinking in terms of innovation. First principles thinking is an amazing tool for discovering new and good ideas. While other methods often start with a conclusions, first principles thinking explicitly does not. This makes it immune, at least for the time being, to bias about conclusions. While it relies heavily the biases about premises - the commitment to ending up wherever reason leads is, to me, what makes it exceedingly useful. In terms of novel great idea output, few other methods of reaching conclusions can match first principles thinking.
First principles thinking is not perfect. If first principles have faults, even valid reasoning can extend and magnify them. Invalid reasoning and lack of information may lead one to think an idea follows from a first principle that really doesn’t. The desired result is a novel idea so, unlike other methods, it’s hard to count novelty against it. The best results of the process often contradict the results of other reasoning methods.
