The Great Connections

The Great Connections


Thinking in Principle

November 19, 2017

Another aspect of taking control of your own mind is learning to think in principle. Co-hosts Marsha Familaro Enright and Liz Parker examine the ways in which this practice enables you to efficiently and effectively analyze and identify ideas, situations, and courses of action by thinking in principle.


The human mind works, with concepts, abstractions; you have no choice but to make generalizations from concrete experiences.


A principle is a fundamental or general truth on which other truths depend.




  • If you know a truth that’s true of a wide range of things, you have a lot of power, ability to deal with many situations.






  • Thinking in principle is the habit of searching for and applying general principles to understand any aspect of life.






  • It’s a very powerful habit of mind, because true principles apply to broad areas, so your mind is able to discern which principles and domains of knowledge bear on the issue, problem, puzzle, question you’re trying to think about.