Encyclopedia Britannica explains that Occam’s Razor is also known as Ockham’s Razor, the law of economy, and the law of parsimony. The first a.k.a., Ockham’s Razor, refers to the person who popularized the theory, 14th-century Franciscan friar William of Ockham. “Parsimony,” by the way, refers to the notion of frugality with regard to the use of resources. So, conceptually, this is analogous to drawing a straight line between two points rather than a circuitous one.
But, why “razor”? Well, the word refers to the act of “shaving off” the unnecessary aspects of an explanation or hypothesis, so that the more straightforward information can be left behind.
Stephen Hawking wrote about Occam’s Razor in his book, A Brief History of Time:
“We could still imagine that there is a set of laws that determines events completely for some supernatural being, who could observe the present state of the universe without disturbing it. However, such models of the universe are not of much interest to us mortals. It seems better to employ the principle known as Occam’s Razor and cut out all the features of the theory that cannot be observed.”
Ernst Mach, an Austrian physicist, and philosopher, created an iteration of Occam’s Razor, opting to call it the Principle of Economy. He believed that scientists should use “the simplest means of arriving at their results and exclude everything not perceived by the senses.” Mach’s Principle purported that the properties of matter are influenced by the distribution and motion of all other matter in the universe.
In 1930 Albert Einstein would say that Mach’s Principle should be considered the “precursor of the General Theory of Relativity.” And this is no small accolade coming from Einstein since the two physicists disagreed about the very existence of atoms (Mach didn’t believe they existed, and Einstein did).
And, fun fact, Mach’s name would later be used to describe speed – 761 miles per hour, for example, is called “Mach 1.” So, you can think of him next time you watch old Top Gun movies.
In a moment of levity in 2013, molecular biologist Sidney Brenner coined the term, Occam’s Broom, referring to the act of sweeping conflicting evidence under the metaphorical rug to maintain a simple answer. This sweeping obviously would only be done by someone with more zeal than integrity.
Aristotle wrote, “Nature operates in the shortest way possible,” and that is at the core of Occam’s razor. The principle itself, as written by Ockham, states that “Entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily,” though when it’s in one of its Latin forms, it appears much more authoritative:
“Pluralitas non est ponenda sine necessitate” or plurality is not to (be) posited without necessity (I added the “be” for clarity).
“Frustra fit per plura quod potest fieri per pauciora” or more that can be done by fewer (I directly translated the Latin into English, so forgive the lack of nuance).
There is, of course, plenty of room for disagreement with the principle of Occam’s Razor. In The Meaning of Relativity, Einstein thoughtfully concluded that “Nature might… obey a more complex theory.”
And that is a brilliant statement because oftentimes Occam’s Razor is thought to be stated as “the simplest explanation is always the best.” But that is not completely accurate. The simplest explanation is best, but only when there is nothing else to suggest a more complex one.
Because things are often complex in life, being a strict adherent to the principle of Occam’s Razor might tempt us to gloss over that complication too quickly. If we don't do the work, we might not find that satisfying morsel at the end of an exhaustive investigation!
Do you ever use Occam’s Razor in your intellectual assessments? References:
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