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Definition
This epistemological principle states that, among a few solutions for a problem, the simplest explanation is usually the best.
Introduction
Ockham was a Franciscan philosopher who lived in the late Middle Ages. Historical sources date his birth in Ockham, England, around 1290 and his death probably in Munich in 1349 (Leahey 2012). He formulated the Ockham’s razor principle, a rule of thinking that considers the simplest explanations as more likely to be correct. The name comes from Ockham’s reject of Platonism’s ideas, cutting through the previous apogee of metaphysics and opening the age of empiricism. Through the formulation “Pluralitas non est ponenda sine necessitae,” Ockham explained the need to discard superfluous interpretations first (Epstein 1984).
This principle is also called principle of parsimony (Lex parsimoniae), working as a synonym of this economic view of scientific explanations. Used in a...
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References
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Gernert, D. (2007). Ockham’s razor and its improper use. Journal of Scientific Exploration, 21, 135–140.
Kuhn, T. S. (1957). The Copernican revolution. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Leahey, T. H. (2012). A history of psychology: From antiquity to modernity, 7th Ed. London: Pearson.
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Pacer, M., & Lombrozo, T. (2017). Ockham’s razor cuts to the root: Simplicity in causal explanation. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 146(12), 1761–1780.
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Carnero-Sierra, S. (2019). Ockham’s Razor. In: Vonk, J., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_153-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_153-1
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