[Music] this explainer video is all about first principles a mental model or thinking tool popularized by thinkers like Aristotle up to Elon Musk in modern times be sure to watch until the end to discover precisely how musk used first principles thinking to start SpaceX first principles is best explained by starting with some ways in which it has been defined in the dictionary we will reference three different definitions for a thoroughly comprehensive view principles that are basic or self-evident the set of basic statements on which a method theory or organization is founded the basic and most
important reasons for doing or believing something so basically first principles are the building blocks we use to build up our understanding they are the fundamental pieces of our understanding the solid ground on which our knowledge can be built up from and raised to greater comprehension just like the biblical admonition to build the house upon the rock this first could have described first principles everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock and the rain fell and the floods came and the
winds blew and beat on that house but it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock Matthew 7 verse 24 to 27 first principles withstand the storms of misunderstanding because they have a solid foundation just like a rock if you were to build a house or a pyramid the first principles could be thought of as the foundation stones the structure on top of the foundation stones might be cognitive structures like theories and hypotheses and the structure above that could be things like ideas and opinions when our cognitive structure is shaken by doubts
and uncertainties the parts above the foundation of the first principles are the first to collapse and be discarded the foundation however remains since it is composed of that which is proven essential or most basic and dependable we could begin again and rebuild on these first principles with new or different hypothesis and ideas in our search for truth first principles as first taught by Aristotle and his followers refer to the most basic and self-evident proposition or assumption the parts that can't be deduced from any other proposition or assumption as history progressed kontin's used first principles in
the form of postulates and in mathematics first principles were referred to as axioms a prominent historical philosopher Descartes actually set the stage for later contends with his method of Cartesian doubt this is where the thinker systematically doubts everything they possibly could until what was left over were the indubitable truths or axioms this as we now know is essentially determining the first principles as we now know philosophy was the birthplace of first principles before its widespread use in science and even business in modern times it is only fitting that we turn to another great philosopher Socrates
and his famous method of questioning known as Socratic questioning as a way of establishing first principles Socratic questioning is a method of disciplined questioning used to establish truths and dig deeper to reveal underlying assumptions Socratic questioning is systematic in depth and often focuses on two fundamental principles concepts theories or problems Socratic questioning does not assume anything and gets to the heart of the issue by asking questions until only the irreducible remains which essentially is what we call a first principle a great example of a modern thinker who excels at determining first principles is Elon Musk
who runs both Tesla Motors and SpaceX musk while wrestling with problems related to what would be SpaceX was considering how to send a rocket to Mars he visited several aerospace manufacturers and quickly discovered that the price tag for purchasing a rocket from them was an astounding 65 million after learning the price tag for his space travel ambitions he decided to consider the problem from a first principles perspective musk referred to his tactics as approaching things from a physics framework he said let's look at the first principles what is a rocket made of aerospace grade aluminum
alloys plus some titanium copper and carbon fiber he then asked what is the value of those materials on the commodity market as it turns out the materials cost for a rocket was only about two percent of the price the aerospace companies had quoted him rather than buy a finished product of a rocket must decided to use the insight he had gained about the actual manufacturing cost from his first principles thinking analysis the result was that he decided to go into the rocket making business which resulted in the creation of SpaceX now that we have defined
first principles thinking covered some of its history and provided a great example of its use in modern times let's review what we've learned to help solidify our knowledge and improve our understanding first principles are essentially the building blocks we use to build up our understanding they are the fundamental pieces of our understanding the solid ground on which our knowledge can be built up from and raised to greater comprehension repeatedly questioning assumptions until we arrive at the most fundamental elements is a way to reach first principles using a method known as Socratic questioning first principles thinking
can be traced back to Aristotle with contributions from Rene Descartes Immanuel Kant and popularized by Elon Musk in modern times thanks for watching this explainer video remember when you subscribe share and like this video it allows me to be able to create more great videos for you to enjoy thanks again
