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Occam's razor
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{{Short description|Philosophical problem-solving principle}} {{Other uses|Occam's Razor (disambiguation)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2024}} In [[philosophy]], '''Occam's razor''' (also spelled '''Ockham's razor''' or '''Ocham's razor'''; {{langx|la|novacula Occami}}) is the [[problem-solving]] principle that recommends searching for explanations constructed with the smallest possible set of elements. It is also known as the '''principle of parsimony''' or the '''law of parsimony''' ({{langx|la|lex parsimoniae}}). Attributed to [[William of Ockham]], a 14th-century English [[philosopher]] and [[theologian]], it is frequently cited as {{lang|la|Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem}}, which translates as "Entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity",<ref>{{Cite web |last=Barry |first=C. M. |date=27 May 2014 |title=Who sharpened Occam's Razor? |url=https://www.irishphilosophy.com/2014/05/27/who-sharpened-occams-razor |website=Irish Philosophy |access-date=5 August 2022 |archive-date=5 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221005062453/https://www.irishphilosophy.com/2014/05/27/who-sharpened-occams-razor/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Schaffer |first1=Jonathan |year=2015 |title=What Not to Multiply Without Necessity |url=http://www.jonathanschaffer.org/laser.pdf |journal=Australasian Journal of Philosophy |volume=93 |issue=4 |pages=644β664 |doi=10.1080/00048402.2014.992447 |s2cid=16923735 |access-date=8 August 2019 |archive-date=9 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200909103500/http://www.jonathanschaffer.org/laser.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> although Occam never used these exact words. Popularly, the principle is sometimes paraphrased as "of two competing theories, the simpler explanation of an entity is to be preferred."<ref name="Britannica2021">{{cite web |last1=Duignan |first1=Brian |title=Occam's Razor |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Occams-razor |access-date=11 May 2021 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |archive-date=25 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230925232653/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Occams-razor |url-status=live }}</ref> This [[philosophical razor]] advocates that when presented with competing [[hypothesis|hypotheses]] about the same prediction and both hypotheses have equal explanatory power, one should prefer the hypothesis that requires the fewest assumptions,<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Ball |first=Philip |date=11 August 2016 |title=The Tyranny of Simple Explanations |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/08/occams-razor/495332/ |access-date=2 February 2023 |website=The Atlantic |language=en |archive-date=2 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230202232303/https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/08/occams-razor/495332/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and that this is not meant to be a way of choosing between hypotheses that make different predictions. Similarly, in science, Occam's razor is used as an [[Abductive reasoning|abductive]] [[heuristic]] in the development of theoretical models rather than as a rigorous arbiter between candidate models.<ref name="fn_(100)">Hugh G. Gauch, ''Scientific Method in Practice, Cambridge University Press'', 2003, {{ISBN|0-521-01708-4}}, {{ISBN|978-0-521-01708-4}}.</ref><ref name="fn_(101)">{{Cite journal|last1=Hoffman|first1=Roald|last2=Minkin|first2=Vladimir I.|last3=Carpenter|first3=Barry K.|date=1997|title=Ockham's Razor and Chemistry|url=http://www.hyle.org/journal/issues/3/hoffman.htm|journal=Hyle: International Journal for Philosophy of Chemistry|volume=3|pages=3β28|access-date=30 May 2004|archive-date=14 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180714163131/http://www.hyle.org/journal/issues/3/hoffman.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>
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