Occam’s Razor – Fantastic Principle That Makes Our Lives Easier

A. Sutherland – MessageToEagle.com – Occam’s razor is a fantastic principle, which can help us in our daily lives full of decisions and uncertainty.

Occam’s (or Ockham’s) razor is a principle attributed to the 14th century logician and Franciscan friar William of Ockham. Ockham was the village in the English county of Surrey where he was born.

The principle states that “Entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily.”

Many scientists have adopted or reinvented Occam’s Razor, as in Leibniz’s “identity of observables” and Isaac Newton stated the rule: “We are to admit no more causes of natural things than such as are both true and sufficient to explain their appearances.”

The most useful statement of the principle for scientists is
“when you have two competing theories that make exactly the same predictions, the simpler one is the better.”

Occam’s razor is often cited in stronger forms than Occam intended, as in the following statements. . .

• “If you have two theories that both explain the observed facts, then you should use the simplest until more evidence comes along”
• “The simplest explanation for some phenomenon is more likely to be accurate than more complicated explanations.”
• “If you have two equally likely solutions to a problem, choose the simplest.”
• “The explanation requiring the fewest assumptions is most likely to be correct.”

. . .or in the only form that takes its own advice. . .
“Keep things simple!”

Written by – A. Sutherland  – MessageToEagle.com Senior Staff Writer

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