Abstract
The basic question of how people choose theories to explain observations has justifiably drawn much attention and received numerous and various possible answers. In particular, it will certainly not be a shockingly new idea to suggest that people opt for the simplest possible theory, i.e., the simplest theory out of those that are compatible with accumulated evidence. (As an explicitly descriptive theory this idea dates back to Wittgenstein (1922) at the latest, while with a slightly more normative flavor it is often attributed to William of Occam —see, e.g., Russell (1945, pp. 468–473), and Sober (1975) for additional references.)
The process of induction is the process of assuming the simplest law that can be made to harmonize with our experience.
(Wittgenstein (1922, Proposition 6.363))
I would like to thank many teachers. colleagues, friends and family members for numerous discussions which motivated and refined these notes, for the encouragement to write them down, and for comments and references.
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Gilboa, I. (1994). Philosophical Applications of Kolmogorov’s Complexity Measure. In: Prawitz, D., Westerståhl, D. (eds) Logic and Philosophy of Science in Uppsala. Synthese Library, vol 236. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-8311-4_13
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