Via Negativa: The Philosophy of Subtraction as Path to Better Engineering and Life

Via Negativa: The Philosophy of Subtraction as Path to Better Engineering and Life

The Ancient Wisdom

Via negativa—the negative way—is a philosophical and theological concept dating to ancient Greek philosophy and refined by medieval theologians. The core idea: understanding what something is not often provides more clarity than defining what it is. Knowledge advances more through eliminating falsehoods than accumulating supposed truths.

The negative path teaches that wisdom comes not from adding more but from removing what’s unnecessary, harmful, or false. As Michelangelo reportedly said of sculpting David: “I simply removed everything that wasn’t David.”

Why Subtraction Is Undervalued

Human psychology systematically biases toward addition over subtraction. Research by Gabrielle Adams (Nature, 2021) demonstrates that when asked to improve systems, people overwhelmingly add components rather than remove them—even when subtraction is more effective.

The bias appears everywhere:

• Software: adding features rather than removing unused code
• Calendars: adding meetings rather than canceling unnecessary ones
• Processes: adding approval steps rather than eliminating bottlenecks
• Knowledge work: accumulating information rather than filtering signal from noise

We are culturally conditioned to equate “doing more” with productivity and value. Via negativa challenges this: often the highest-value action is stopping something.

Via Negativa in Engineering

Code: Subtraction as Simplification

The best engineers aren’t those who write the most code but those who solve problems with the least code.

Linus Torvalds famously rejected a complex patch to the Linux kernel with: “The code isn’t just ugly, it’s horrible… You haven’t simplified anything, you just made the problem worse by adding more code.”

Principles of via negativa in code:

• Delete unused features and dead code ruthlessly
• Resist adding abstractions until pain proves necessity (YAGNI - You Aren’t Gonna Need It)
• Prefer removing dependencies over adding new ones
• Simplify by removing special cases, not adding them
• The best pull request is often one that deletes more lines than it adds

Example: Google’s Chubby distributed lock service succeeded partly because engineers repeatedly asked “What can we not do?” rather than “What features should we add?” The result: a simple, reliable service instead of a feature-bloated one.

Architecture: Complexity Through Subtraction

Kent Beck’s “First make it work, then make it right, then make it fast” implicitly follows via negativa. The “make it right” phase is primarily about removing accidental complexity.

Via negativa architectural questions:

• What microservices could we consolidate back into a monolith?
• What abstraction layers could we eliminate?
• What infrastructure components could we remove by using managed services?
• What communication patterns could we simplify by reducing synchronous calls?

Teams building successful systems at scale often have “deletion sprints” where the goal is removing code, services, and infrastructure—not adding. Amazon’s famous “two-pizza team” rule is via negativa: limit what can be added by limiting team size.

Process: Efficiency Through Elimination

Engineering teams accumulate process debt: meetings that were once useful, rituals that solved old problems, documentation nobody reads. Via negativa says: audit and aggressively eliminate.

Questions to ask:

• Which recurring meetings could we cancel?
• Which approval processes could we remove (trust by default)?
• Which metrics could we stop tracking because nobody acts on them?
• Which tools could we retire to reduce cognitive overhead?

Spotify’s famous squad model succeeded partly through via negativa: removing traditional management hierarchies, eliminating handoff processes, reducing dependencies.

Via Negativa in Personal Productivity

Eliminating Over Optimizing

Productivity advice typically focuses on doing more—better tools, better techniques, better habits. Via negativa inverts this: what should you stop doing?

High-impact subtractions:

• Notification elimination: Disable all but critical notifications. The time saved from interruptions dwarfs any productivity tool.
• Meeting reduction: Decline meetings without clear agendas or decisions. Default to async communication.
• Commitment pruning: Say no to most opportunities. Warren Buffett: “The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say no to almost everything.”
• Information diet: Unsubscribe from newsletters you don’t read, quit social media platforms that don’t provide value, stop tracking news obsessively.

Every “yes” is a “no” to something else. Via negativa makes the “nos” explicit and intentional.

Deep Work Through Subtraction

Cal Newport’s “Deep Work” is fundamentally via negativa: create focus by eliminating shallow work, distractions, and multitasking.

Subtraction strategies:

• Block entire days for deep work by removing meetings
• Eliminate email checking except designated windows
• Remove yourself from Slack channels that don’t require your participation
• Uninstall distracting apps from devices

The path to deep work isn’t finding more hours but removing what fills existing hours with shallow activity.

Via Negativa in Life Philosophy

Defining Values Through What You Reject

You understand your values more clearly by defining what you’re against than what you’re for.

Exercise: Rather than listing values (“integrity,” “family,” “growth”), list what you actively reject:

• “I reject working for companies whose products harm users”
• “I reject prioritizing career advancement over family time”
• “I reject shallow relationships maintained out of obligation”

These rejections reveal your actual values more honestly than aspirational statements.

Happiness Through Subtraction

Ancient philosophies—Stoicism, Buddhism, Taoism—teach that happiness comes from removing sources of suffering more than adding sources of pleasure.

Stoic via negativa:

• Eliminate attachments to things outside your control
• Remove false beliefs about what you “need” to be happy
• Subtract toxic relationships rather than adding more social commitments

Hedonic adaptation means adding pleasures provides diminishing returns. But removing persistent irritations provides compounding relief.

Example: Seneca advocated periodic “voluntary discomfort”—deliberately experiencing cold, hunger, or hardship—not as asceticism but to remove fear of these conditions. By subtracting the fear, he increased freedom.

Career Decisions: Knowing What You Won’t Do

Principal engineers distinguish themselves through focus—saying no to most opportunities to focus on highest-impact work. Via negativa career strategy:

• Define companies you won’t work for (values mismatch, poor culture, harmful products)
• Identify projects you won’t pursue (low learning, low impact, misaligned with strengths)
• Recognize roles you won’t accept (management if you love IC work, IC if you love leading)

Steve Jobs returning to Apple in 1997 immediately cut 70% of products, focusing on a few that defined Apple’s resurgence. The subtraction created the focus that enabled quality.

Practical Application Framework

1. Regular Subtraction Audits

Schedule quarterly “via negativa reviews”:

Engineering audit:

• List all services, features, tools, processes
• For each: “Would we add this today if it didn’t exist?”
• If no, schedule for removal

Personal audit:

• List commitments: meetings, projects, subscriptions, habits
• For each: “Does this align with my values and goals?”
• If no, eliminate or reduce

2. Addition Threshold

Before adding anything—code, meetings, tools, commitments—ask:

1. What problem does this solve?
2. Can we solve it by removing something instead?
3. What’s the cost of maintaining this addition?
4. What are we not doing if we do this?

Require affirmative answers to add. Default to subtraction.

3. The Replacement Rule

For every addition, remove something of equal or greater size:

• Add a new service? Retire an old one.
• Add a meeting? Cancel another.
• Start a new project? Finish or abandon an existing one.

This forces conscious trade-offs and prevents unbounded accumulation.

The Paradox of Via Negativa

The philosophy of subtraction seems passive—what you’re not doing. But executing via negativa requires active discipline, courage, and clarity.

It’s easier to add a feature than delete one (customers complain). It’s easier to accept a meeting than decline (fear of missing out). It’s easier to accumulate than prune.

Via negativa is the hard path of intentional simplicity in a world that defaults to accidental complexity.

Reflection Questions

1. Engineering: What code, features, or infrastructure could you delete today that would simplify your systems without significant loss?

2. Process: What meetings, rituals, or approvals exist more from inertia than necessity?

3. Career: What projects or opportunities should you say no to, even if they’re “good,” because they’re not the best use of your time?

4. Life: What commitments, possessions, or habits could you eliminate to create space for what truly matters?

5. Values: What can you define about yourself through what you reject or refuse?

Conclusion

Via negativa—the negative way—teaches that progress often comes through subtraction rather than addition. In engineering, this means simpler code, leaner architectures, and focused roadmaps. In life, this means intentional commitments, deep work, and values clarified through rejection.

The bias toward addition is strong. Overcoming it requires conscious practice: regular subtraction audits, high thresholds for addition, and the courage to say no.

Michelangelo revealed David by removing marble. The sculpture was always there; the art was knowing what to take away.

Your best code, your most impactful work, your most fulfilling life—they may already exist beneath the accumulated complexity. The path forward might not require adding more but courageously removing what doesn’t belong.

What can you stop doing today?