Ockham's Razor - It is pointless to do with more what can be

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Snorrithor
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Ockham's Razor - It is pointless to do with more what can be

Post by Snorrithor » 01-11-2002 04:37 AM

Ockham, William of (1285-1349)

English philosopher who defended the logic, physics, and metaphysics of Aristotle in Summa Logicae (The Whole of Logic) (1328) vol. 1 {at Amazon.com} and vol. 2 {at Amazon.com} and the Dialogus. An extreme nominalist, Ockham held that general terms are signs that indefinitely signify discrete (though similar) particulars. Ockham is best known for his statement of the law of parsimony as the ontological principle often called Ockham's Razor: "Frustra fit per plura quod potest fieri per pauciora" ["It is pointless to do with more what can be done with less"].

Thus, according to Ockham, we ought never to postulate the reality of any entity unless it is logically necessary to do so.

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http://www.philosophypages.com/dy/o.htm#ockh
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And the narrowest hinge in my hand puts to scorn all machinery,
And the cow crunching with depress'd head surpasses any statue,
And a mouse is miracle enough to stagger sextillions of infidels.

-- Walt Whitman (in 'Song of Myself' from 'Leaves of Grass')
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