This is one of those things where one can throw around the term "first principles thinking" with relative ease.
To actually do it is different and usually comes from having to wrestle with a problem.
Sadly people from the academia and the public at large has a hard time understanding what this even means.
They equate it with exam based memorization or delegation to authority. Funnily they even think first principles reasoning is an improved version of doing the same.
But this is a blessing in disguise as it gives those who wrestle with real problems a unique skillset that can be advantageous.
> Sadly people from the academia [...] equate [first principles thinking] with exam based memorization or delegation to authority.
In what departments and at what universities? The term "first principles" comes from academia. I think you'd be hard pressed to find a faculty member in any philosophy department doesn't understand what reasoning from first principles is. I'd be surprised if any working mathematician thinks of "memorization" or delegating to authority rather than axiomatization. What experiences led you to say this?
Its so ubiquitous, you can pick random folks from most academia and see it first hand.
If this comes as a shocker to you, then I should be the one to enquire as to how you managed to stay blind in the face of the obvious.
Just strike up a discussion on some complex topic, and you can see many people resort to "because the author here in this book said" or "we are taught so and so".
A first principles reasoning can show you the steps that lead to a specific conclusion without invoking any author, teacher or course.
Knowing what first principles reasoning is isn't the same thing as being willing to re-teach a discipline from the ground up for a stranger rather than first pointing to the existing literature that, perfectly or imperfectly, already addresses a topic.
You don't acquire it by learning or teaching about it. You don't acquire it from literature or lectures. You acquire it by being forced to do it. It requires wrestling with the problem domain.
And as you said, pointing to literature just "addresses" a topic. Obtaining it is a different matter altogether.
I get what you're saying but I think what you're describing is more of a temperament more than anything else. Some people, inside and outside academia, have a kind of "root causes" or "first principles" temperament. Others are more inclined to build incrementally on existing knowledge, and less inclined to revisit the foundations.
I think you're right that lots of people with tons of training, expertise, or experience are (sometimes very disappointingly) disinclined to engage in first-principles thinking. But I would expect most academicians to at least know what it is.
elendilm · · focus · HN ↗
To actually do it is different and usually comes from having to wrestle with a problem.
Sadly people from the academia and the public at large has a hard time understanding what this even means.
They equate it with exam based memorization or delegation to authority. Funnily they even think first principles reasoning is an improved version of doing the same.
But this is a blessing in disguise as it gives those who wrestle with real problems a unique skillset that can be advantageous.
pxc · · focus · HN ↗
In what departments and at what universities? The term "first principles" comes from academia. I think you'd be hard pressed to find a faculty member in any philosophy department doesn't understand what reasoning from first principles is. I'd be surprised if any working mathematician thinks of "memorization" or delegating to authority rather than axiomatization. What experiences led you to say this?
elendilm · · focus · HN ↗
If this comes as a shocker to you, then I should be the one to enquire as to how you managed to stay blind in the face of the obvious.
Just strike up a discussion on some complex topic, and you can see many people resort to "because the author here in this book said" or "we are taught so and so".
A first principles reasoning can show you the steps that lead to a specific conclusion without invoking any author, teacher or course.
Cheers. Hope it helps.
pxc · · focus · HN ↗
elendilm · · focus · HN ↗
And as you said, pointing to literature just "addresses" a topic. Obtaining it is a different matter altogether.
pxc · · focus · HN ↗
I think you're right that lots of people with tons of training, expertise, or experience are (sometimes very disappointingly) disinclined to engage in first-principles thinking. But I would expect most academicians to at least know what it is.