First principles thinking is a problem-solving approach that involves breaking down a problem into its fundamental parts and building up from there. It is also known as "reasoning from first principles" and is a way to reverse-engineer complicated problems and unleash creative possibility. The idea is to strip away assumptions and conventions and rebuild from the ground up, rather than relying on incremental improvement.

First principles thinking is different from reasoning by analogy, which involves solving problems based on prior assumptions and widely accepted best practices. For example, a chef who uses first principles thinking would transform raw ingredients into a completely new dish, while someone who follows a recipe would likely never deviate from the widely accepted instructions.

To establish first principles, one technique is Socratic questioning, which is a systematic approach to asking and answering questions to inspire creativity and separate knowledge from false assumptions. Another way is to boil things down to the most fundamental truths and reason up from there, as Elon Musk describes.

One of the primary obstacles to first principles thinking is our tendency to optimize form rather than function, which can limit our ability to innovate. However, first principles thinking can help us to see what is possible and explore widely for better substitutes. It is a way of taking off the blinders and making most things suddenly seem more possible.