Basic Principles and Philosophical Dimensions of Failure Root-Cause Analysis

Failure Analysis is directly connected to the creation of a knowledge system aiming to continuous process and product improvement, towards the welfare of the society. The “lessons learned” approach is a valuable aspect of analyzing and investigating failure incidents, which converts the outcome of a failure to the benefit of the humanity. In the present study, the main ingredients of Failure Analysis process are highligthed and summarized, as a blend of philosophical dimensions, originated from the Ancient Greek Philosophy: Ethics, Physics and Logic. In addition, the basic foundations of Stoic Philosophical School are presented and matched with the Failure Analysis elements, forming a harmonized analogy.