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Occam's razor
Oc·cam's razor O0024600 (ŏk′əmz)n. Variant of Ockham's razor.Occam's razor n (Philosophy) a variant spelling of Ockham's razor Oc′cam's ra′zor n. the principle in philosophy and science that assumptions introduced to explain a thing must not be multiplied beyond necessity, and hence the simplest of several hypotheses is always the best in accounting for unexplained facts. Also called law of parsimony. [1835–40; after William of Occam] ThesaurusNoun | 1. | Occam's Razor - the principle that entities should not be multiplied needlessly; the simplest of two competing theories is to be preferredlaw of parsimony, Ockham's Razor, principle of parsimonyprinciple, rule - a rule or law concerning a natural phenomenon or the function of a complex system; "the principle of the conservation of mass"; "the principle of jet propulsion"; "the right-hand rule for inductive fields" |
Occam's razor
Occam's razorA maxim that the simplest theory should be applied to a situation or experiment first. This concept is named for its ardent defender, 14th-century philosopher William of Occam. I think our initial hypothesis is too complex. Occam's razor would suggest we consider the simplest possible explanation.See also: razorOccam's razor the principle that in explaining something no more assumptions should be made than are necessary. This principle takes its name from the English philosopher and Franciscan friar William of Occam ( c .1285–1349 ): the image is that of the razor cutting away all extraneous assumptions.See also: razorOccam's razorThe simplest explanation of something is apt to be the correct one. This principle is named for the English scholar William of Occam (or Ockham), who lived from 1280 to 1349. A Franciscan monk, he so angered Pope John XXII through both his writings on the nature of knowledge and his defense of his order’s vow of poverty that he was excommunicated. William, whom his colleagues called Doctor Singularis et Invincibilis (“singular and invincible doctor”), put his principle in Latin: Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem, “Entities should not be unnecessarily multiplied.” In effect, he held that any unnecessary parts of a subject being analyzed should be eliminated. Obviously, this could simply be called Occam’s Principle, and indeed, the razor did not enter into it until a French philosopher, Etienne Bonnot de Condillac, in 1746 called it Rasoir des Nominaux, “the razor of the nominalists,” that is, cutting through complicated arguments to reach the truth. In 1836 Sir William Hamilton, lecturing on metaphysics and logic, put the two ideas together, saying, “We are therefore entitled to apply Occam’s razor to this theory of causality.” While some may believe that this phrase, with its ancient and rather abstruse origin, is obsolete, novelist Archer Mayor clearly disagreed, for he entitled his 1999 murder mystery Occam’s Razor.See also: razorOccam's Razor
Occam's Razor (philosophy)The English philosopher, William of Occam(1300-1349) propounded Occam's Razor:
Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem.
(Latin for "Entities should not be multiplied more thannecessary"). That is, the fewer assumptions an explanation ofa phenomenon depends on, the better it is.
For example, some claim that God caused himself to exist andalso caused the universe to exist - he was the "first cause" -whereas Occam's Razor suggests that if one accepts thepossibility of something causing itself then it is better toassume that it was the universe that caused itself rather thanGod because this explanation involves fewer entities.
The negation of Occam's Razor would suggest that anarbitrarily complex explanation is just as good as thesimplest one. (E.g. God and his cat created a robot calledSparky who built the universe from parts bought from a shop inanother dimension).
See also KISS Principle.Occam's razor
Oc·cam's ra·zor (ŏk'imz rā'zŏrh), The principle of scientific parsimony. William of Occam (ca. 1282-1340) stated it thus: "The assumptions introduced to explain a thing must not be multiplied beyond necessity."The simplest expression of scientific truth; where 2 theories exist to explain a similar phenomenon, the one making the fewest assumptions should prevail—i.e., it should be no more complicated than necessary. In keeping with Occam’s razor, generalisations should be based on observed facts and not on other generalisationsOccam's razor A principle in science and philosophy, much applied in medicine, that one should try to account for an observed phenomenon in the simplest possible way and should not look for multiply explanations of its different aspects. For instance, a range of symptoms and signs occurring together should always, if possible, be attributed to a single disease rather than to several different diseases occurring simultaneously. (William of Occam, ca. 1290–1349, English philosopher).Occam's razor see OCKHAM'S RAZOR.Occam's Razor
Synonyms for Occam's Razornoun the principle that entities should not be multiplied needlesslySynonyms- law of parsimony
- Ockham's Razor
- principle of parsimony
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