Philosophical Foundations: First Principles
Have a few minutes? Pretty sure of your views? Challenge yourself!
Here’s a taste of what you’re in for, compliments of Justin Longo: “To evaluate policies, you must have a framework or lens you use to determine what is good and bad policy. This is entirely foreign to most people.”
I’m a big advocate of thinking critically, of striking-the-root, and of consistency in views. Justin does a superb job making his case while doing all three.
I want to give you the tools to build a foundation that will guide you to a consistent philosophy. I don’t necessarily want you to agree with everything I’m about to say, but rather, to use the guidelines of establishing first principles to form your ideals. I believe it is extremely important to constantly “check your premises.” First principles are those premises.
“First principle” defined: foundational principle. Cannot be deduced from any other proposition – in other words, an irreducible principle. Sometimes called “axioms.” First principles have no assumptions built into them.
