First Principles thinking allows you to see the obvious hiding in plain sight
Thinking by analogy starts with what already exists and works from there to an incremental solution. This may be cost effective in the short-term, but it is subject to path dependence, the staying power of the default, and the status quo bias. First principles thinking questions all previous answers until it arrives at the fundamental starting point, then rebuilds a new answer from there.
The credit for first-principles thinking goes to Aristotle, who defined it as “the first basis from which a thing is known.” The French philosopher and scientist René Descartes described it as systematically doubting everything you can possibly doubt, until you’re left with unquestionable truths.[1]
One example is the development of reusable rockets, as pioneered by SpaceX.
If you reason by analogy, you would conclude that reusable spacecraft are a bad idea. It didn’t work for NASA, so it won’t work for us. But this reasoning is flawed. The case against reusability was built on a single case study: the space shuttle. The problem, however, was with the shuttle itself, not with all reusable spacecraft.[2]
By going back to the first principles of physics, SpaceX succeeding in building the first commercially viable, reusable rockets.
See also:
- Paradigm shifts reconstruct the field from new fundamentals
- The default carries immense power
- Path dependence shapes what we do next
- Simple rules tame complexity
- Design Thinking is innovating routinely
- Inversion illuminates solutions by identifying what would make things worse
Think Like a Rocket Scientist – Varol (2020), ch. 2, § “Back to First Principles.” ↩︎
Ibid. ↩︎