How To Use First Principles Thinking To Innovate

Thinking is one of the essential skills a person must learn. It allows us to decide, solve problems, and come up with new ideas. And yet, many people never learn how to do it properly.

The history of thinking goes back centuries. The ancient Greeks were some of the first people to think about thinking, and they came up with several important ideas about it. One of the most important was the idea that thinking is a process that can be divided into distinct steps.

Origin of First-Principles Thinking

While learning how to think is a significant first step, some of the world’s greatest thinkers took it further by developing their own thinking methods. One of the most famous and influential methods is known as “first-principles thinking.”

First-principles thinking was first popularized by the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle. He believed that the best way to understand something was to break it down and then put those parts back together to form a new understanding.

First-principles thinking was later picked up by the eminent scientist Isaac Newton. He used it to develop his famous laws of motion. First-principles thinking is also credited with helping Albert Einstein develop his theory of relativity.