In all our knowledge of general principles, what actually happens is that first of all we realize some particular application of the principle, and then we realize that the particularity is irrelevant, and that there is a generality which may equally truly be affirmed. – Bertrand Russell

We are continuing our series called Mere Metaphysics and this post will focus on what a principle is and some of the defining characteristics of what philosophers call “first principles.” I think, however, that before we get to the first principles of metaphysics, it is important to step back and get a general understanding and broad panoramic picture of what we mean by the term “principle”. This will be helpful, because the concept of principle really is not that different in metaphysics than in other fields of study, contexts, and applications. This approach will also help us understand why it is that no one who wishes to think correctly about reality, science, and human behavior can do so without an understanding of basic first principles.

A principle may be one among many temporally (as in a series of phenomena), or logically (as in the axioms of mathematics). Since, in many cases, there could be a hierarchy of principles, we are primarily interested in what philosophers call “first principles,” the most basic and foundational principles which underlie all human knowledge and action.

What is a principle? A principle is that from which something else follows. According to its Latin derivation and the equivalent root in Greek, “principle” means a beginning or foundation.¹ In other words, a principle is the basic source of origin or the foundation from which something proceeds. The Dictionary of Scholastic Philosophy gives another helpful definition—“that from which something in some way proceeds; the starting point of being, or change, or knowledge, or discussion.”² This definition is important because it illustrates that every field of study and human action has basic foundational principles.

In economics, for example, the principle of scarcity is one of the foundational concepts upon which the entire study of production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services depends. Both goods and money are considered scarce because they are not infinite and therefore economists study consumer exchange and behavior in light of such scarcity. Mathematics, also, has basic first principles. The entire reason Euclid, in his Elements, provides his definitions, postulates, and axioms (his mathematical principles) is that they are logically prior to all his theorems and demonstrations which he comes to by means of them.

In the realm of ethics, a principle is the rule or ground for determining the rightness or wrongness of a person’s action. If I respond unkindly to someone, I am forgetting the principle that kindness as such is always a virtue. The statement that it “is wrong to torture babies for fun” is based on the prior principle that it is wrong to harm another human being. A principle in human conduct can also serve as a guide for correct behavior or policy. In the area of public administration, someone might say that a particular government is acting “without principles” or in an unprincipled manner. That statement is not about the rightness or wrongness of the government’s action (that is a separate concern), but points to the claim that the government may not be acting with a uniform policy in place that will serve as a foundation for its actions. Regarding human conduct, principles are the most basic and foundational rules that guide correct action in the realm of ethical behavior and public policy. Principles are that from which all policy follows.

Science itself is based upon first principles. In order for science to be successful, it not only must assume the foundational laws of logic—noncontradiction, excluded middle, and identity, but also necessarily accept the following principles: The principle of existence (something is in fact the case, it exists), the principle of causality (every event has a cause and in identical situations the same cause always produces the same effect), the principle of predictive uniformity (a group of events will show the same degree of interconnection or relationship in the future as they showed in the past or show in the future), the principle of objectivity (requires the scientist to be impartial with regard to the data and treat it, carefully, openly, and honestly. The facts must be such that they can be experienced in exactly the same way by all normal people, the ethic of reproducibility, and an essential principle to the scientific method itself), the principle of empiricism (scientific knowledge is the result of observation, experience, as opposed to authority, intuition, or reason alone.)³ Although there are other first principles of science that should be mentioned, the above are enough to demonstrate that science itself relies on first principles. Every field has basic foundational concepts in place before anything else can be determined, discussed, or understood.

We can now see how the concept of principle works in many other contexts. This also explains why it is impossible to reject or deny the existence of primary foundational truths from which all correct thinking, scientific inquiry, and ethics derives. It is an interesting quality of first principles that they are not provable in the scientific or strict empirical sense and yet they can not be denied, unless one wants to fall into absurdity and chaos. Aristotle, Pascal, and John Stuart Mill (among others) believed it was neither possible nor necessary to prove basic foundational principles. Mill, for example, states, “to be incapable of proof by reasoning is common to all first principles; to the first premises of our Knowledge, as well as to those of our conduct.”⁴ The reason, as we shall see below, is that it is ultimately foolish to deny self-evident truths.

Aristotle was among the first of the great metaphysicians to point this out. Not only did Aristotle express the basic need for first principles, he believed they should be clear, simple, self-evident, and univocal. Aristotle, and many other thinkers after him, believe that one cannot prove a first principle positively because it is so self-evident that it would be ludicrous to deny. Take for example, the principle of existence, that something exists. One has to exist in order to deny that something exists. To deny existence is absurd. Or take another example, the principle of noncontradiction—nothing can both be and not be at the same time and in the same respect. To say that the principle of noncontradiction is false assumes that the opposite is true. Since opposites cannot both be true it is irrational to reject the principle of noncontradiction. As C. S. Lewis once put it, you cannot have a proof that no proofs matter. An attempt to do so is self-contradictory. It is possible to reject these basic principles but the result is chaos and conceptual incoherence.

In his Metaphysics, Aristotle provides two other reasons why first principles are needed for clear communication and correct reasoning. The first is that not every principle or starting point needs to be argued for or there would never be an end to argument and demonstration. Regarding the principle of noncontradiction, Aristotle puts it this way,

But we have now posited that it is impossible for anything at the same time to be and not to be, and by this means have shown that this is the most indisputable of all principles—Some indeed demand that even this shall be demonstrated, but this they do through want of education, for not to know of what things one should demand demonstration, and of what one should not, argues want of education. For it is impossible that there should be demonstration of absolutely everything (there would be an infinite regress, so that there would still be no demonstration); but if there are things of which one should not demand demonstration, these persons could not say what principle they maintain to be more self-evident than the present one.⁵

It is genuinely hard to conceive of what principle can be more self-evident than the principle of noncontradiction.

The second reason Aristotle gives in defense of first principles is that correct reasoning comes from fixed principles and their definitions. At the most foundational level of existence, definitions are reduced to their principle. If the principles are equivocal, ambiguous, or have several definitions, no communication or reasoning can take place. Aristotle, taking on the poststructuralists of his day explains,

If, however, … one were to say that the word has an infinite number of meanings, obviously reasoning would be impossible; for not to have one meaning is to have no meaning, and if words have no meaning our reasoning with one another, and indeed with ourselves, has been annihilated.⁶

And Aristotle further explains,

Those, then, who are to join in argument with one another must to some extent understand one another; for if this does not happen how are they to join in argument with one another?⁷

Why are metaphysical principles important? Metaphysical first principles are the basis of all clear and correct reasoning. Argument about axioms and principles cannot go on forever or no real progress will be made. Without first principles, no communication or genuine argumentation can be accomplished. In addition, metaphysical first principles provide certainty. Without basic principles in place, we run the risk of conceptual incoherence on one hand and mere opinion on the other. If we have no axioms or principles to start from, all postulates become a matter of opinion, probability, and uncertainty. We will never achieve genuine knowledge. As Dr. Mortimer Adler once said, “axioms express the very essence of knowledge.”⁸

In our next post, we will examine the mere metaphysical principle of existence and seek to understand its role in the argument from being.

1 Mortimer Adler, ed., The Syntopicon: An Index to The Great Ideas, vol. 2, Great Books of The Western World (Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 1996), s.v. Principle.

2 Bernard Wuellner S.J., Dictionary of Scholastic Philosophy (1956; repr., Fitzwilliam, NH: Loreto Publications, 2012), s.v. Principle.

3Herold Titus, Marilyn Smith, and Richard Nolan, Living Issues in Philosophy, 9th ed. (Belmont, California: Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1995), 218–19.

4 J.S. Mill, Utilitarianism, ed. Mortimer Adler, vol. 40, Great Books of The Western World (Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica, 1993), 461.

5 Aristotle, Metaphysics, trans. W. D. Ross, vol. 7, Great Books of the Western World (Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 1996), 525.

6 Ibid., 525.

7 Ibid., 590.

8 Mortimer Adler, ed., The Syntopicon: An Index to The Great Ideas, vol. 2, Great Books of The Western World (Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 1996), s.v. principle.