Principle - Wikipedia Principle From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search Rule that has to be followed or is an inevitable consequence of something, such as the laws observed in nature For other uses, see Principle (disambiguation). Not to be confused with Principal. The concept of blind justice is a moral principle.[1] A principle is a proposition or value that is a guide for behavior or evaluation. In law, it is a rule that has to be or usually is to be followed, or can be desirably followed, or is an inevitable consequence of something, such as the laws observed in nature or the way that a system is constructed. The principles of such a system are understood by its users as the essential characteristics of the system, or reflecting system's designed purpose, and the effective operation or use of which would be impossible if any one of the principles was to be ignored.[2] A system may be explicitly based on and implemented from a document of principles as was done in IBM's 360/370 Principles of Operation. Examples of principles are, entropy in a number of fields, least action in physics, those in descriptive comprehensive and fundamental law: doctrines or assumptions forming normative rules of conduct, separation of church and state in statecraft, the central dogma of molecular biology, fairness in ethics, etc. In common English, it is a substantive and collective term referring to rule governance, the absence of which, being "unprincipled", is considered a character defect. It may also be used to declare that a reality has diverged from some ideal or norm as when something is said to be true only "in principle" but not in fact. Contents 1 As law 1.1 As moral law 1.2 As a juridic law 1.3 As scientific law 2 As axiom or logical fundament 2.1 Principle of sufficient reason 2.2 Principle of non-contradiction 2.3 Principle of excluded middle 3 See also 4 References 5 External links As law[edit] As moral law[edit] Socrates preferred to face execution rather than betray his moral principles.[3] Main article: Ethics A principle represents values that orient and rule the conduct of persons in a particular society. To "act on principle" is to act in accordance with one's moral ideals.[4] Principles are absorbed in childhood through a process of socialization. There is a presumption of liberty of individuals that is restrained. Exemplary principles include First, do no harm, the golden rule and the doctrine of the mean. As a juridic law[edit] Main article: Principle of legality It represents a set of values that inspire the written norms that organize the life of a society submitting to the powers of an authority, generally the State. The law establishes a legal obligation, in a coercive way; it therefore acts as principle conditioning of the action that limits the liberty of the individuals. See, for examples, the territorial principle, homestead principle, and precautionary principle. As scientific law[edit] Archimedes principle, relating buoyancy to the weight of displaced water, is an early example of a law in science. Another early one developed by Malthus is the population principle, now called the Malthusian principle.[5] Freud also wrote on principles, especially the reality principle necessary to keep the id and pleasure principle in check. Biologists use the principle of priority and principle of Binominal nomenclature for precision in naming species. There are many principles observed in physics, notably in cosmology which observes the mediocrity principle, the anthropic principle, the principle of relativity and the cosmological principle. Other well-known principles include the uncertainty principle in quantum mechanics and the pigeonhole principle and superposition principle in mathematics. As axiom or logical fundament[edit] Principle of sufficient reason[edit] Main article: Principle of sufficient reason The principle states that every event has a rational explanation.[6] The principle has a variety of expressions, all of which are perhaps best summarized by the following: For every entity x, if x exists, then there is a sufficient explanation for why x exists. For every event e, if e occurs, then there is a sufficient explanation for why e occurs. For every proposition p, if p is true, then there is a sufficient explanation for why p is true. However, one realizes that in every sentence there is a direct relation between the predicate and the subject. To say that "the Earth is round", corresponds to a direct relation between the subject and the predicate. Principle of non-contradiction[edit] Portrait bust of Aristotle; an Imperial Roman copy of a lost bronze sculpture made by Lysippos Main article: Law of noncontradiction According to Aristotle, “It is impossible for the same thing to belong and not to belong at the same time to the same thing and in the same respect.”[7] For example, it is not possible that in exactly the same moment and place, it rains and doesn't rain.[8] Principle of excluded middle[edit] Main article: Law of excluded middle The principle of the excluding third or "principium tertium exclusum" is a principle of the traditional logic formulated canonically by Leibniz as: either A is B or A isn't B. It is read the following way: either P is true, or its denial ¬P is.[9] It is also known as "tertium non datur" ('A third (thing) is not). Classically it is considered to be one of the most important fundamental principles or laws of thought (along with the principles of identity, no contradiction and sufficient reason). See also[edit] Axiom Corollary Deduction Law (principle) Logical consequence Self-Evidence References[edit] ^ Jacoby, Jeff. "Lady Justice's blindfold." Boston.com. 10 May 2009. 25 October 2017. ^ Alpa, Guido (1994) General Principles of Law, Annual Survey of International & Comparative Law, Vol. 1: Is. 1, Article 2. from Golden Gate University School of Law ^ "The Ethics of Socrates." Archived 2018-05-01 at the Wayback Machine Philosophy. 25 October 2017. ^ "Full Transcript: Jeff Flake’s Speech on the Senate Floor." New York Times. 24 October 2017. 25 October 2017. ^ Elwell, Frank W. "T. Robert Mathus's Principle ...." Rogers State University. 2013. 25 October 2017. ^ "Principle of Sufficient Reason." Archived 2018-06-11 at the Wayback Machine Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 7 September 2016. 25 October 2017. ^ "Aristotle on Non-contradiction." Archived 2018-06-11 at the Wayback Machine Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 12 June 2015. 25 October 2017. ^ "Great Philosophers." Oregon State University. 2002. 25 October 2017. ^ Whitehead, Alfred North (2005). Principia mathematica, by Alfred North Whitehead ... and Bertrand Russell. External links[edit] The dictionary definition of principle at Wiktionary Actus Essendi and the Habit of the First Principle in Thomas Aquinas (New York: Einsiedler Press, 2019). v t e Ethics Normative ethics Consequentialism Utilitarianism Deontology Kantian ethics Ethics of care Existentialist ethics Particularism Pragmatic ethics Role ethics Virtue ethics Eudaimonism Applied ethics Animal ethics Bioethics Business ethics Discourse ethics Engineering ethics Environmental ethics Legal ethics Machine ethics Media ethics Medical ethics Nursing ethics Professional ethics Sexual ethics Ethics of artificial intelligence Ethics of eating meat Ethics of technology Ethics of terraforming Ethics of uncertain sentience Meta-ethics Cognitivism Moral realism Ethical naturalism Ethical non-naturalism Ethical subjectivism Ideal observer theory Divine command theory Error theory Non-cognitivism Emotivism Expressivism Quasi-realism Universal prescriptivism Moral universalism Value monism – Value pluralism Moral relativism Moral nihilism Moral rationalism Ethical intuitionism Moral skepticism Concepts Autonomy Axiology Conscience Consent Equality Free will Good and evil Good Evil Happiness Ideal Immorality Justice Liberty Morality Norm Freedom Suffering or Pain Stewardship Sympathy Trust Value Virtue Wrong full index... Philosophers Laozi Socrates Plato Aristotle Diogenes Valluvar Cicero Confucius Augustine of Hippo Mencius Mozi Xunzi Thomas Aquinas Baruch Spinoza David Hume Immanuel Kant Georg W. F. Hegel Arthur Schopenhauer Jeremy Bentham John Stuart Mill Søren Kierkegaard Henry Sidgwick Friedrich Nietzsche G. E. Moore Karl Barth Paul Tillich Dietrich Bonhoeffer Philippa Foot John Rawls John Dewey Bernard Williams J. L. Mackie G. E. M. Anscombe William Frankena Alasdair MacIntyre R. M. Hare Peter Singer Derek Parfit Thomas Nagel Robert Merrihew Adams Charles Taylor Joxe Azurmendi Christine Korsgaard Martha Nussbaum more... 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Related topics Axiology Cosmology Epistemology Feminist metaphysics Interpretations of quantum mechanics Mereology Meta- Ontology Philosophy of mind Philosophy of psychology Philosophy of self Philosophy of space and time Teleology Theoretical physics Category  Philosophy portal Authority control GND: 4175725-7 Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Principle&oldid=988287551" Categories: Principles Assumption (reasoning) Concepts Concepts in epistemology Concepts in ethics Concepts in metaphysics Concepts in the philosophy of mind Concepts in the philosophy of science Epistemology History of ideas History of philosophy Metaphysics Metaphysics of mind Mind Ontology Philosophical concepts Philosophical theories Hidden categories: Webarchive template wayback links Articles with short description Articles with long short description Short description is different from Wikidata Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Navigation menu Personal tools Not logged in Talk Contributions Create account Log in Namespaces Article Talk Variants Views Read Edit View history More Search Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Donate Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Tools What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Cite this page Wikidata item Print/export Download as PDF Printable version In other projects Wikimedia Commons Wikiquote Languages አማርኛ العربية Asturianu Azərbaycanca Български Čeština Dansk Deutsch Eesti Español Esperanto Euskara فارسی Français 한국어 Հայերեն हिन्दी Hrvatski Ido Bahasa Indonesia Íslenska Italiano ქართული Қазақша Na Vosa Vakaviti 日本語 Norsk bokmål Norsk nynorsk ਪੰਜਾਬੀ Português Română Русский Shqip Simple English Slovenčina Slovenščina Soomaaliga کوردی Српски / srpski Suomi Svenska Türkçe Українська ייִדיש 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 12 November 2020, at 07:13 (UTC). 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