第一性原理，又称“第一原理”，是古希腊哲学家亚里士多德提出的一个哲学术语：每个系统中存在一个最基本的命题，它不能被违背或删除。亚里士多德认为，我们要掌握第一原理才能拥有正确知识。从第一原理思考的人，会从果实到树根，由表及里来理解知识，他们会把那些零散的知识，全都形成一个有条理的整体。In the previous video, we discussed the idea of power and created a framework for thinking about it. I claimed that someone needed two fundamental ingredients to be powerful: a true understanding of the world and the resources to shape it. As promised, we’re going to go over what I left out of the last video, which was how to obtain a truer understanding of the world.在之前的视频，我们讨论了权力的概念，并构建了一个知识框架来思考它。我声称，一个人要强大，需要具备两个基本条件：对世界有正确的认识，以及拥有改造世界的资源。我说过要补上视频中没讲完的内容，所以在本视频中，我们要讨论如何对世界形成正确的认识。I believe this essay will shine light on the fact that some ways of thinking are more useful than others. Out of all of the essays that I’ve ever written, this one is the most important. Today, we’ll be discussing how to think from first principles. First principles are the fundamental building blocks of an idea; they are the most indivisible parts that we know to be true and that we use to build more complex thoughts. I know this sounds a little abstract right now, but let me give you some history, an analogy, and an example.我相信，这篇文章能说明一个事实，那就是有一些思维方式是比较有益的。我写过的所有文章中，这一篇最重要。今天，我们来说一说如何从第一性原理思考。第一性原理是知识的基本单位，它们是正确的，也是我们用以形成更复杂知识的最不可分割单位。我知道这有点抽象，让我先来讲讲第一性原理的历史，然后作个类比，再举个例子。Thinking from first principles isn’t a new or groundbreaking idea. In fact, it’s been the dominant mode of thinking among all great scientists and philosophers for a while now; it’s probably the single most consistent factor among great thinkers.从第一性原理思考，并不是什么新的思维方式。实际上，很久之前第一性原理就成为了伟大科学家和哲学家们的主要思维方式；可能这是伟大思考者们的唯一共同点了。Although there have been many practitioners of this way of thinking, I’d like to zoom in on one that you may have heard about: Aristotle. He was a prolific organizer who believed that everything could be divided into categories and subcategories. The smallest subcategory in any domain is what we would call a first principle. He was also one of the earliest empiricists that we know about. Empiricist: someone who believes that all knowledge is achieved through experience.虽然有很多人是这个思维方式的实践者，我想特别讲讲一个你应该知道的人物——亚里士多德。他整理知识的成果颇丰，他相信所有事物都能分为类别和子类别。每个领域最小的子类别就是我们所说的第一原理。他也是我们所知最早的经验主义者。经验主义者即认为所有知识都通过经历获取的人。As one of the earliest major contributors to the study of biology, it makes sense that Aristotle was a first principles thinker. He would dissect animals to gain real world knowledge and then use his capacity for reason to organize and categorize this information. This cycle of seeking knowledge through experience and using reason to give it structure is how one comes to know the first principles of a subject. Aristotle believed that we couldn’t possess true knowledge unless we understood these principles.作为生物学的最早奠基人之一，亚里士多德可以说是一位从第一性原理思考的人。他会为了真正了解世界而解剖动物，并用其推理能力处理和分类所获取的信息。人们通过由经验获取知识，再由推理构建体系，来获知一门学科的第一性原理。亚里士多德认为，我们要掌握第一性原理才能拥有正确知识。Now that you have a slight understanding of the history, let me give you an analogy about thinking from first principles. Think of your knowledge in a specific domain as a tree. Someone who thinks from first principles, an unconventional thinker, will understand that body of knowledge from the fruit all the way down to the root. The fruit is what we see in front of us: it’s the unearned knowledge that we can obtain, experience, and repeat right away.现在你对第一性原理的历史已有所了解，让我对这种思维方式作个类比吧。把你在某个特定领域的知识想象成一棵树。从第一性原理思考的人，即以非传统方式思考的人，会从果实到树根由表及里来理解知识。果实是我们从表面看到的，这是我们即刻获取及利用的已有知识。We can look at an apple tree, say that it’s just a thing that produces apples, and call it a day. It’s a very shallow understanding of the tree but it’s not untrue. On the other hand, a first principles thinker will want to know how this creation really came to be. They will see that the apple is connected to a branch. Every branch is a subset of a greater whole called the trunk.我们可以看着一颗苹果树，说那只是一颗会长出苹果的树，并到此为止。这是对这棵树非常浅显的认识，但没有不对。但，从第一原理思考的人会想知道果子是如何结出来的。他们会看到，苹果连接着树枝。每根树枝都是一个更大整体，即树干的子集。Finally, they see that the root is the most fundamental part of the tree which gives rise to the fruit. They have gathered multiple pieces of information about the tree through experience but they have also organized the pieces of information in relation to each other. These free-floating facts have been transformed into an organized body of knowledge.最后，他们看到，树根这棵树最基本的部分有根才能长出果实。他们已经通过经验搜集了有关于树的各种知识，同时他们也通过推理把知识整理好。那些零散的知识全都形成一个有条理的整体。The conventional thinker will believe that they can put the apple seeds anywhere and grow delicious apples; they lack true understanding. Upon examining the roots, the first principles thinker will see that a delicious fruit starts with good soil; they have a nuanced understanding.以传统方式思考的人认为，他们把苹果核种在任何地方都能结出香甜的苹果；这说明他们缺乏正确认识。通过查看树根，从第一性原理思考的人会发现，好果子要有肥土；他们对此有细致入微的了解。The conventional thinker is the guy at the cocktail party who has all of the interesting facts: his knowledge consists solely of fruit that he can display. On the contrary, the unconventional thinker is consistently focused on building trees of knowledge. Like Aristotle, he or she goes back and forth between experience and reason to build an organized and structured body of knowledge.传统思考者就像在鸡尾酒派对里夸夸其谈的人，他显摆的只是表面事实。相反，从第一性原理思考的人则始终关注构建知识体。如亚里士多德一般，他不断经历和推理，以构建有条理、系统性的知识整体。A tree planted in good soil will have strong and healthy roots and thus produce delicious fruit. Likewise, an idea that blooms from true and beautiful first principles will itself be beautiful and true. Naturally, if the simple parts that make up a complex whole are good and true, then the complex whole must be good and true as well. This is important because, as we discussed in the last video, a true understanding of the world is necessary to obtain power. Any complex beliefs we hold can only be true if the parts that make it up are true.种在肥沃土壤里的树会有强壮健康的根，就能结出好果子。同样，以正确第一性原理为基础的知识，其本身也是正确的。不难理解，如果一个复杂整体由精确的零件组成，那么这个整体肯定也是精确的。这点很重要，因为要获得权力，必须对世界有正确的认识。只有基本信念正确，更复杂的信念才会正确。To make this more concrete, let’s think about the process of writing an essay from first principles. A well-written essay is like a delicious fruit: it’s enjoyable to consume and difficult to produce without understanding its fundamentals. We can identify its fundamentals by breaking it down into its component parts. An essay is a collection of paragraphs. Well, a paragraph is a collection of sentences. A sentence is a collection of words. Words are a collection of letters and letters are the fundamental building blocks of an essay. Once the components of an essay are understood, we can look at improving each one from the simplest to the complex. If we can make each individual component remarkable, then the totality should be remarkable and that is the art of first principles thinking.更具体地说，就从第一性原理来思考写文章的过程。写得好的文章就如香甜的果子一样，如果不掌握其根本，那就只有吃得爽快却种不出来。我们能通过将其分解来找到其基础部分。文章由段落组成，然后段落由句子组成，句子由字组成，字由笔划构成，那么笔划就是一篇文章的基础。知道了文章的组成部分，我们就可以把最简单的成分组合为复杂成分。如果我们能把每个部分都做好，那就会构成良好的整体，这就是第一性原理思维之美。Now, let’s talk about the benefits. There are several benefits that come from understanding an idea down to its fundamental components. The first is innovation. Once you understand the fundamentals of an idea, you can rearrange them, change them, or put them together differently to create a new idea or product. In our writing example, we could have created another layer above the essay: we could call a collection of essays a book. We have now invented something new.现在，我们来说一说益处。从根本之处把握知识有几点好处。第一，创新。一旦你把握了知识的根本，你就能改造它，或以不同方式把它们结合，形成新知识。在写文章的例子中，我们可以创造一个高于文章的层次。我们可以把文章集合成书。这样我们就创新了。The second benefit is optimization. A fundamental component can be changed in order to improve an idea or a product. For example, once we knew the fundamental components of the essay, we could put each of them under scrutiny to see how each component could be its best. But, without knowing these components, it’s impossible to make any sort of improvement.第二，优化。思想或实体能通过改造以获得优化。比如，知道了文章的基础成分之后，我们可以仔细观察它们以获得优化它们的方法。但如果不了解这些成分，优化是不可能的。The third benefit is integration. Once you understand the foundational components of an idea, it becomes a lot easier to integrate new knowledge into your understanding. For example, once you know how to write letters it becomes easier to make words. Once you know how to write words you can make sentences. Once you can make sentences, you can make paragraphs, then essays, then books, then entire libraries.第三，融合。当你理解了知识的根本之后，把新知识融入你的知识系统就简单多了。例如，你知道如何写笔划之后，写出字来就很简单了。一旦你知道如何写字，你就能造句。能造句，就能写段落，然后写成文章，成书，成丛书。And then the final benefit is dissemination. Understanding the foundational components of an idea makes it easier to transfer that complex idea to another person. You can start with the simplest component and build up the idea from there; this is exactly what we try to do in schools. We teach kids how to write the alphabet, then words, and so on. First principle thinkers are better teachers because they can determine the exact level where a student’s understanding falls apart.最后一个益处是传播。对基础知识的了解有利于把复杂知识传递给别人。你可以从简单的知识开始，慢慢讲到复杂的知识。这就是我们在学校的学习方法。我们先教如何写笔划，然后写字等等。从第一性原理思考的人更善于教学，因为他们清楚学生难以理解的知识难度。So, you see the benefits but how can someone become a first principle thinker? Thinking from first principles is simple, but not easy. I just have one piece of actionable advice and it’s inspired by Aristotle: create hierarchies (like what we did with the essay example). Most ideas are nested inside or outside one another and it’s the job of a first principles thinker to map out how these ideas are linked.现在知道益处了，但如何成为从第一性原理思考的人呢？听起来容易，做起来难。我只有一个可操作的建议，受亚里士多德的启发：即构建层次，就像写文章要做的那样。大部分知识都是零散的，有第一性原理思维的人要做的是了解这些知识是如何相互联系的。As Aristotle, like all empiricists, would say, knowledge begins with experience. The world is presenting fruit all around you: amazing and complex acts of creation. Discovering the roots of these creations starts with questions such as why or how. The ultimate truth-seeker must not be satisfied with fruit, yet they realize that the search for roots is never ending. Once they’ve reduced an idea down to the smallest fundamentals that they can conceive of, they have arrived at the first principles. These fundamentals can be used to innovate, optimize, learn more complex ideas, or to teach others.经验主义者会说，知识来源于经验。你眼前的世界结满了果实，它们属于复杂层次的创造。了解这些创造的源头，从问“为什么”和“怎么样”开始。终极真理的追寻者绝不满足于表面的果实，他们也知道对根的追问将永无止境。当他们尽其所能地对知识剖析到其最小组成部分之后，他们就获得了该知识的第一性原理。这些基础部分可作为创新、优化和学习更高深知识以及传播知识的基础。One of the best ways to discover these fundamentals is by actually writing down and organizing the information in a subject that you’re interested in by using a hierarchy or a mind map like how we did with the essay. So, that concludes my little mini-series on power. I put forth a framework for power in the last video and discussed the idea of being valuable to obtain it. In this video, I put forth a common mode of thought for the truth-seeker. In the next video, I plan to discuss something that might catch you by surprise: the danger of being a first principles thinker.寻找基础部分的最佳方式之一是把你感兴趣的学科知识搜集起来，并像写文章那样将各部分等级化，从而使知识具有系统性。那么本视频的内容就讲完了。上一个视频中，我构建了关于权力的框架，并说明了要成为有价值之人才能获得权力。而本视频中，我讲到了真理追求者共有的思维模式。下一个视频，我将谈论可能会让你难以置信的话题：从第一性原理思考的危险性。
标题：The Most Powerful Way to Think | First PrinciplesBy Freedom In Thought译：Beth、良哥