How to Tell Principles from Paradigms

Name: How to Tell Principles from Paradigms
Type: Principles (or Paradigms :-?)
Status: final
Version: 2008-10-13
Source: Covey, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Gist: If you - like me - like to be picky with words sometimes, here's a nice explanation on two words we use over and over again. It started me thinking about what I give the 'principles' tag here on my blog. I will put more work on all the existing principles here, in order to better distinguish principles from other things.

Principles
Principles describe the way things are, like the law of gravity.
Principles represent natural laws, the reality
Principles are sustainable and timeless
Principles are self-evident & self-validating
Principles can't be faked, you're not in control of them
Principles will remain constant and universal
Principles ultimately govern

Paradigms
Paradigms are mental images of the way things are. ´Hence, a paradigm can be some one's mental image of a principle.
Paradigms represent implicit assumptions of our lives
Paradigms are projection of our background
Paradigms reveals my world view, my autobiography
Paradigms can change with my thinking