First-Principles Thinking
thinking from first principles, as we sometimes must do when we encounter an unprecedented situation for which we have no model, is arduous, time-consuming, and downright scary.
Roger L. Martin • A New Way to Think
As adults, we rely on convention and what we’re told because that’s easier than breaking things down into first principles and thinking for yourself. Thinking through first principles is a way of taking off the blinders. Most things suddenly seem more possible.
Rhiannon Beaubien • The Great Mental Models Volume 1: General Thinking Concepts
when re-designing a feature, one approach is to take what you have, and imagine small changes that will solve the problems with the feature. Instead, it’s often instructive to imagine that you were working from a clean slate and design the feature from scratch. In either case, the right approach is almost always to re-use the existing codebase in y... See more
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The credit for first-principles thinking goes to Aristotle, who defined it as “the first basis from which a thing is known.”
Ozan Varol • Think Like a Rocket Scientist: Simple Strategies You Can Use to Make Giant Leaps in Work and Life
“I think it’s important to reason from first principles rather than by analogy. The normal way we conduct our lives is we reason by analogy." - Elon Musk
Rahul Garg • The Ultimate Guide To First Principles Thinking
