Falsification, developed by philosopher Karl Popper, is the principle that a claim is only scientific if it is possible in principle to prove it wrong. Popper's central insight: science advances not by confirming theories but by systematically trying to disprove them. The theories that survive repeated, rigorous attempts at falsification are our best current knowledge — not because they're proven true, but because they've resisted being proven false.
Inductive reasoning moves from specific observations to general conclusions; deductive reasoning moves from general principles to specific conclusions. Together, they form the two fundamental modes of logical inference — and understanding which mode applies to a given problem determines whether your conclusions can be certain (deductive) or only probable (inductive). Most real-world problem-solving combines both, but knowing which you're using prevents overconfidence and logical errors.
The Scientific Method is the systematic process for building reliable knowledge: observe, form a hypothesis, test it with an experiment designed to disprove it, analyse results, and revise beliefs accordingly. First formalised by Francis Bacon and later by Karl Popper's concept of falsifiability, it remains the most reliable process humans have developed for separating genuine knowledge from intuition, bias, and wishful thinking.
Steel Manning, in problem-solving contexts, is the practice of constructing and seriously engaging with the strongest version of an opposing position, hypothesis, or approach — rather than the weakest (straw man) version. Applied to problem diagnosis, it means genuinely considering the most compelling evidence that your current solution is wrong, that your root cause hypothesis is incomplete, or that an alternative approach would work better.
The Map Is Not the Territory is a principle from general semantics, formulated by Alfred Korzybski in 1931, that describes the relationship between mental models and reality. All models — maps, theories, frameworks, financial projections, organizational charts — are simplifications of reality. They are useful precisely because they simplify. But they are also incomplete, and the gaps between the map and the territory are where decisions fail. The model warns against treating any representation of reality as if it were reality itself.