Occam's razor
lastmod 2015-12-27created 2015-12-271 edits
Occam's razor (Occam's Razor or Ockham's Razor) is also often called the 'principle of economy' (Principle of economy). It is named after William of Ockham (William of Ockham), a 14th-century English logician and Franciscan friar. The original wording appears in Ockham's writings in Latin.
- "Pluralitas non est ponenda sine neccesitate." (Plurality should not be posited without necessity)
- "Frustra fit per plura quod potest fieri per pauciora." (When something can be explained with fewer arguments, do not set up more.)
Put simply, Occam's razor says that one should not make unnecessary assumptions when explaining a phenomenon. In plainer words, it means 'if there are two claims that explain the same phenomenon, choose the simpler one (given two equally accurate theories, choose the one that is less complex)'. The razor here is a metaphor for cutting away unnecessary hypotheses. This proposition, also called the "principle of parsimony" (Principle of Parsimony) for seeking to exclude concepts without necessity, is still upheld today as a basic guideline for building scientific theories.