Imagine you’re a scientist with a set of results that are
equally well predicted by two different theories. Which theory do you choose?
This, it’s often said, is just where you need a hypothetical
tool fashioned by the 14th-century English Franciscan friar William of Ockham,
one of the most important thinkers of the Middle Ages. Called Ockam’s razor
(more commonly spelled Occam’s razor), it advises you to seek the more
economical solution: In layman’s terms, the simplest explanation is usually the
best one.
Occam’s razor is often stated as an injunction not to make
more assumptions than you absolutely need. What William actually wrote (in his Summa
Logicae, 1323) is close enough, and has a pleasing economy of its own: “It is
futile to do with more what can be done with fewer.”
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