Robert Grosseteste, in Commentary on the Posterior Analytics Books ( Commentarius in Posteriorum Analyticorum Libros) (c. Phrases such as "It is vain to do with more what can be done with fewer" and "A plurality is not to be posited without necessity" were commonplace in 13th-century scholastic writing. 168) stated, "We consider it a good principle to explain the phenomena by the simplest hypothesis possible." Aristotle writes in his Posterior Analytics, "We may assume the superiority ceteris paribus of the demonstration which derives from fewer postulates or hypotheses." Ptolemy ( c. The origins of what has come to be known as Occam's razor are traceable to the works of earlier philosophers such as John Duns Scotus (1265–1308), Robert Grosseteste (1175–1253), Maimonides (Moses ben-Maimon, 1138–1204), and even Aristotle (384–322 BC). Part of a page from John Duns Scotus's book Commentaria oxoniensia ad IV libros magistri Sententiarus, showing the words: " Pluralitas non est ponenda sine necessitate", i.e., "Plurality is not to be posited without necessity" Ockham stated the principle in various ways, but the most popular version, "Entities are not to be multiplied without necessity" ( Non sunt multiplicanda entia sine necessitate) was formulated by the Irish Franciscan philosopher John Punch in his 1639 commentary on the works of Duns Scotus.
Ockham did not invent this principle, but the "razor"-and its association with him-may be due to the frequency and effectiveness with which he used it. Libert Froidmont, in his On Christian Philosophy of the Soul, takes credit for the phrase, speaking of " novacula occami". The phrase Occam's razor did not appear until a few centuries after William of Ockham's death in 1347.
Since failing explanations can always be burdened with ad hoc hypotheses to prevent them from being falsified, simpler theories are preferable to more complex ones because they tend to be more testable. For each accepted explanation of a phenomenon, there may be an extremely large, perhaps even incomprehensible, number of possible and more complex alternatives. In the scientific method, Occam's razor is not considered an irrefutable principle of logic or a scientific result the preference for simplicity in the scientific method is based on the falsifiability criterion. Similarly, in science, Occam's razor is used as an abductive heuristic in the development of theoretical models rather than as a rigorous arbiter between candidate models. This philosophical razor advocates that when presented with competing hypotheses about the same prediction, one should select the solution with the fewest assumptions, and that this is not meant to be a way of choosing between hypotheses that make different predictions. 1287–1347), a scholastic philosopher and theologian, although he never used these words. The idea is frequently attributed to English Franciscan friar William of Ockham ( c. It is generally understood in the sense that with competing theories or explanations, the simpler one, for example a model with fewer parameters, is to be preferred. Occam's razor, Ockham's razor, Ocham's razor ( Latin: novacula Occami), also known as the principle of parsimony or the law of parsimony ( Latin: lex parsimoniae), is the problem-solving principle that "entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity". For the Australian radio program, see Radio National. For the aerial theatre company, see Ockham's Razor Theatre Company.
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