Like everything relating to "principles", the definitions here are somewhat squishy. There exists a class of principles that feel more "concrete" and unambiguous than the more generic "do good things"-type principles. **These are closer to rules**, but simply calling them “rules” doesn’t do them justice. They constrain some form of work, whether it be a very general work (e.g. [[#Do No Harm]]) or a very specific one (e.g. [[#Obsidian 's Manifesto]]). Looking at various web sources, it looks like you could generalize the difference between “principles” and “rules” as “_rules are more specific formalizations of principles which tailor the spirit of the principle to a given context_” [[Make the Decision that Informs all Subsequent Decisions]]. I haven't figured out how to really describe these, but here are some examples that come to mind, in particular [Obsidian's Manifesto](https://obsidian.md/about) comes to mind. # Examples ## Zero Waste Don't do any activity that produces wasted material. ## [[Obsidian]]'s Manifesto You should [go read it](https://obsidian.md/about), it's the best example I can think of. - The dedication to durable, open file formats. - Your data live on your device, and End-to-end encrypted if going to the server. - Adaptable, that the tool should be as modular as possible and not "force" features on users. - Obsidian is supported by users, not investors. ## Do No Harm The **Hippocratic oath** sets out this principle. ## The [[Wile E. Coyote Rules]] A set of 9 rules the show followed. Keeping the concept pure. ![[Pasted image 20260612134350.png]] **** ## Source ## Related - [[Procedures → Principles → Objective]] - [[Be Principle-Centered]]