Truth is ever to be found in simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things.
- Isaac Newton
In Newton's "Principia," four rules for studying philosophy are proposed, explaining the methodology he used to study and explain unknown phenomena. The four principles are as follows:
When seeking the causes of natural things, no others should be added except those that are true and necessary to explain the phenomena.
Therefore, in all possible cases, similar results must be attributed to the same cause.
Attributes of objects that cannot be diminished or enhanced, and are common to all objects, must be regarded as properties shared by all objects.
In experimental physics, theorems derived from phenomena through induction must be considered accurate or nearly true unless contrary assumptions exist; thus, they should always be viewed as such until other phenomena are discovered that modify them or allow for exceptions.