First Principles

by: John P. Hubert MD

Philosophy

First Principles are the fundamental assumptions on which a chain of reasoning may be based. Classically, first principles are the foundation of "knowledge" as viewed from the discipline of philosophy. It is a set of assumptions without which nothing can be known. In other words, they are a set of undeniable propositions which are either self-evident by their very nature, or undeniable because the predicate is reducible to the subject, and this means that one cannot deny the principle without using it, such as in the principle of non-contradiction which cannot be denied without using it in the denial.

There are 12 basic first principles of reality, and everything we know about reality is "known" by them:

l.) Being Is (B is)= The Principle of Existence

2.) Being is Being (B is B)= The Principle of Identity

3.) Being is not Nonbeing (B is not non-B)= The Principle of non- contradiction.

4.) Either Being or non-Being (Either B or non-B)= The Principle of the excluded middle.

5.) Nonbeing Cannot Cause Being (Non-B>B)= The Principle of Causality

6.) Contingent Being Cannot Cause Contingent Being (Bc>Bc)= The Principle of Contingency or dependency.

7.) Only Necessary Being Can Cause a Contingent Being (Bn

8.) Necessary Being cannot cause a Necessary Being (Bn>Bn)= The Negative Principle of Modality.

9.) Every Contingent Being Is Caused by a Necessary Being (Bn

10.) Necessary Being exists= Principle of Existential Necessity (Bn exists).

11.) Contingent being exists= Principle of Existential Contingency (Bc exists).

12.) Necessary Being is similar to similar contingent Beings it causes= Principle of Analogy (Bn-similar

First principles are really indispensable to all knowledge, and first principles of being, are a necessary prerequisite to all knowledge of being. Knowing these allows us to "know" many things about reality and allows the linking of thought and thing, ie knowing is based in being. This then is a commentary of how we "know" what we know, reduced to the "lowest common denominator", in a way of speaking.

Ref: Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics, by Norman L Geisler, page 250, Jan. 2000.

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