Organizing principle

An organizing principle is a core assumption from which everything else by proximity can derive a classification or a value. It is like a central reference point that allows all other objects to be located. Having an organizing principle might help one simplify and get a handle on a particularly complicated domain. On the other hand, it might create a deceptive prism that colors one's judgment.

Examples

• In a The Brookings Institution article, James Steinberg describes how Counter terrorism has become the organizing principle of U.S. national security. ^[1]
• The idea of the solar system is based on the organizing principle that the sun is located at a central point, and all planets rotate around it.
• Most modern cities are based on the organizing principle of the Grid plan in order to better manage transportation and addressing.
• Most religions (as opposed to cults) can be described by social scientists as built around an organizing principle (for example, the divinity of Christ) that allow for the sustainable or improvable recursion of a unique population.

References

1. ^ James B. Steinberg (October 14, 2008). "Counterterrorism: A New Organizing Principle for American National Security?". The Brookings Institution. http://www.brookings.edu/articles/2002/summer_terrorism_steinberg.aspx. Retrieved October 14, 2008. 

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