A principle is a proposition or value that is a guide for behavior or evaluation. In law, it is a

rule Rule or ruling may refer to: Education * Royal University of Law and Economics (RULE), a university in Cambodia Human activity * The exercise of political or personal control by someone with authority or power * Business rule, a rule perta ...

that has to be or usually is to be followed. It can be desirably followed, or it can be 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. 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 The stationary-action principle – also known as the principle of least action – is a variational principle that, when applied to the '' action'' of a mechanical system, yields the equations of motion for that system. The principle states t ...

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 The central dogma of molecular biology is an explanation of the flow of genetic information within a biological system. It is often stated as "DNA makes RNA, and RNA makes protein", although this is not its original meaning. It was first stated by ...

, 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.

As law

As moral law

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. 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 ' () is a Latin phrase that means "first, do no harm". The phrase is sometimes recorded as '. Non-maleficence, which is derived from the maxim, is one of the principal precepts of bioethics that all students in healthcare are taught in school a ...

, the golden rule and the doctrine of the mean.

As a juridic law

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 Conditioning may refer to: Science, computing, and technology * Air conditioning, the removal of heat from indoor air for thermal comfort ** Automobile air conditioning, air conditioning in a vehicle ** Ice storage air conditioning, air condition ...

of the action that limits the liberty of the individuals. See, for examples, the territorial principle,

homestead principle The homestead principle is the principle by which one gains ownership of an unowned natural resource by performing an act of original appropriation. Appropriation could be enacted by putting an unowned resource to active use (as with using it ...

, and precautionary principle.

As scientific law

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 Thomas Robert Malthus (; 13/14 February 1766 – 29 December 1834) was an English cleric, scholar and influential economist in the fields of political economy and demography. In his 1798 book ''An Essay on the Principle of Population'', Malt ...

is the ''population principle'', now called the

Malthusian principle Thomas Robert Malthus (; 13/14 February 1766 – 29 December 1834) was an English cleric, scholar and influential economist in the fields of political economy and demography. In his 1798 book ''An Essay on the Principle of Population'', M ...

. Freud also wrote on principles, especially the

reality principle In Freudian psychology and psychoanalysis, the reality principle (german: Realitätsprinzip) is the ability of the mind to assess the reality of the external world, and to act upon it accordingly, as opposed to acting on the pleasure principle. A ...

necessary to keep the id and pleasure principle in check. Biologists use the

principle of priority 270px, '' valid name. Priority is a fundamental principle of modern botanical nomenclature and zoological nomenclature. Essentially, it is the principle of recognising the first valid application of a name to a plant or animal. There are two asp ...

and

principle of Binomial nomenclature 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. It can be desirably followed, or it can be an inevitable consequence of something, such as the la ...

for precision in naming species. There are many principles observed in physics, notably in cosmology which observes the mediocrity principle, the

anthropic principle The anthropic principle, also known as the "observation selection effect", is the hypothesis, first proposed in 1957 by Robert Dicke, that there is a restrictive lower bound on how statistically probable our observations of the universe are, beca ...

, the

principle of relativity In physics, the principle of relativity is the requirement that the equations describing the laws of physics have the same form in all admissible frames of reference. For example, in the framework of special relativity the Maxwell equations have ...

and the cosmological principle. Other well-known principles include the uncertainty principle in quantum mechanics and the pigeonhole principle and

superposition principle The superposition principle, also known as superposition property, states that, for all linear systems, the net response caused by two or more stimuli is the sum of the responses that would have been caused by each stimulus individually. So tha ...

in mathematics.

As axiom or logical fundament

Principle of sufficient reason

The principle states that every event has a rational explanation. 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

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.” For example, it is not possible that in exactly the same moment and place, it rains and does not rain.

Principle 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. 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, non-contradiction and sufficient reason).

References

External links

* * ''Actus Essendi'' and the Habit of the First Principle in Thomas Aquinas (New York: Einsiedler Press, 2019)
/span>. {{Authority control Concepts in epistemology Concepts in ethics Concepts in metaphysics Concepts in the philosophy of mind Concepts in the philosophy of science Metaphysics of mind Ontology