A detailed analysis of stochastic electrodynamics (SED) as a foundation for quantum mechanics has shown that the reasons for its failure in the case of nonlinear forces are not to be ascribed to the founding principles of the theory but to the approximation methods introduced, particularly the use of the Fokker‐Planck approximation and perturbation theory. To recover the intrinsic possibilities of SED a new, non perturbative approach has been developed, namely linear stochastic electrodynamics (LSED). We here present the basic principles on which LSED is constructed. The demand that the solutions of the SED problem comply with as few as three principles, each one of which is shown to have a clear physical meaning, leads in a natural way to the quantum mechanical description in its Heisenberg form. We briefly re‐examine some of the most often discussed conceptual problems of quantum mechanics from the point of view offered by the new theory and show that it offers well defined and clear physical anwers to them, within a realist and causal perspective. To conclude we add brief comments on a couple of predictions of the theory, the test of which could eventually lead to its validation or refutation.