Shane Parrish

I don’t know what’s the matter with people

Sometimes called reasoning from first principles, it’s a tool to help clarify complicated problems by separating the underlying ideas or facts from any assumptions based on them.

Essentially, they were looking for the foundational knowledge that would not change and that we could build everything else on, from our ethical systems to our social structures.

Rather, first principles thinking identifies the elements that are, in the context of any given situation, non-reducible.

When it comes down to it, everything that is not a law of nature is just a shared belief.

The quality of your thinking depends on the models that are in your head.

The way he describes it,

I believe in the discipline of mastering the best of what other people have figured out.
Charlie Munger1

In life and business, the person with the fewest blind spots wins.

The skill for finding the right solutions for the right problems is one form of wisdom.