A principle is a comprehensive and fundamental law, doctrine, or assumption. It can be a rule or code of conduct. It can be a law or fact of nature underlying the working of an artificial device.
Principle as cause
The principle of any effect is the cause that produces it.
Depending on the way the cause is understood the principle as cause acquires nuances.
Principle of Causality, as efficient cause
The efficient cause is the one that produces the necessary effect, as long as the necessary and sufficient conditions are provided.
The scientific process generally consists of establishing a cause by observing the effects. Using the principle that same causes always produce the same effects, a law can be established for which causes produce which. In this way the principle of cause is considered as a determining factor in the production of the facts.
Each science establishes the type of principles or causes that determine their investigation, on which they establish their method.
With the belief that "every effect has a cause", it's considered that everything that exists must have a cause. This is considered as the principle of causality. It was formulated by Aristotle as "Everything that moves is moved by another". This principle has been frequently used as a demonstration of God's existence, along with the principle of sufficient reason.
Principle as a final cause
Final cause is the end, or goal, which guides one to take the necessary actions to obtain it.
For that there needs to be an intelligence capable of conceiving the end and realizing that certain actions must be taken to achieve the goal.
Science does not recognize the finality of the natural causes as a guiding principle of investigation.
It is also understood therefore that the principle guides the action as a norm or rule of behavior, which produces two types of principles.
Utility and Morality
When the means subordinate themselves to the ends in order to be affective, the principle acts as a guide to the action; "To achieve this goal, this and that should be done". This is the "principle of utility".
It supposes the conditionality of the norm in its relation to the action, only the norm is effective "in condition to" what wants to be achieved at the end.
When the principle establishes in the individual conscience that a norm of action is necessary for the realization of a value that is unconditional and universal, in the sense of: "You must do this," then it is considered a principle of ethics.
It supposes the determination of the cause as liberty, and the obligation of exercising will as a determination.
If the principle is established as socially obligatory in the realization of a value not governed by the written juridic law, "morality" is established.
It also presumes the indetermination of the cause as free action and the acceptance of the norm for the membership to the social group.
Principle as law
Principle as scientific law
Laws Physics. Laws Statistics. Laws Biological. Laws of nature are those that can be proven explicitly, however we can measure and quantify them observing the results that they produce.
Principle as moral law
It represents a set of values that orientate and rule the conduct of a concrete society. The law establishes an obligation in the individual's conscience that belongs to the cultural field in which such values are accepted. It supposes the liberty of the individual as cause, that acts without external coercion, through a process of socialization.
Principle 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 of the action that limits the liberty of the individuals.
Principle as axiom or logical fundament
Principle of Sufficient Reason
This is based on the truth or intelligibility of the being. The being has an identity and is intelligible, in virtue that it is. (The intelligibility is the identity of the being with intelligence.) That in virtue of which the being is intelligible, is called the reason or fundament of being. Here is the ontological principle: ‘’Every being has enough reason’’. Without this enough reason, the identity with oneself would be lost, becoming a non-being and therefore nothing. If a being lacked enough reason, of explication, it wouldn't be intelligible, conceiving itself as an absurd unreal non-being.
Principle of Identity
This comes in consequence from the characteristic of identity of the being. The being is the being, and whoever denies that statement would be against the previously exposed. However, saying "what is, is what is" would seem, as a trial, merely analytical (A = A), but one realizes that in every sentence there is a direct relation between the predicate and the subject. To say "the earth is round", corresponds to a direct relation between the subject and the predicate. Taking this to the sentence "the being is the being", we realize the principle of identity that the being possesses.
Principle of contradiction
"One thing can't be and not be at the same time, under the same aspect." Example: It is not possible that in the exact same moment it rains and doesn't rain (in the same place).
Principle of the excluding third
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, no contradiction and sufficient reason).
See also
