Occam's razor

"Pluralitas non est ponenda sine neccesitate" or "plurality should not be posited without necessity." The
words are those of the medieval English philosopher and Franciscan monk William of Ockham (ca. 12851349). Like many Franciscans, William was a minimalist in this life, idealizing a life of poverty, and like St.
Francis himself, battling with the Pope over the issue. William was excommunicated by Pope John XXII.
He responded by writing a treatise demonstrating that Pope John was a heretic.
What is known as Occam's razor was a common principle in medieval philosophy and was not originated
by William, but because of his frequent usage of the principle, his name has become indelibly attached to
it.

Ockham's Razor
Encyclopdia Britannica Article

also spelled Occam's razor, also called law of economy, or law of parsimony,
principle stated by William of Ockham (12851347/49), a scholastic, that Pluralitas
non est ponenda sine necessitate; Plurality should not be posited without necessity.
The principle gives precedence to simplicity; of two competing theories, the simplest
explanation of an entity is to be preferred. The principle is also expressed Entities
are not to be multiplied beyond
"Ockham's Razor." Encyclopdia Britannica. 2003. Encyclopdia Britannica Premium Service.
28 Sep, 2003 <http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?eu=58133>.

What is Ockham's Razor?

When a new set of facts requires the creation of a new theory the process is far from the orderly picture
often presented in books. Many hypothses are proposed, studied, rejected. Researchers discuss their
validity (sometimes quite heatedly) proposing experiments which will determine the validity of one or the
other, exposing flaws in their least favorite ones, etc. Yet, even when the unfit hypotheses are discarded,
several options may remain, in some cases making the exact same predictions, but having very different
underlying assumptions. In order to choose among these possible theories a very useful tool is what is
called Ockham's razor.
Ockham's Razor is the principle proposed by William of Ockham in the fourteenth century: ``Pluralitas non
est ponenda sine neccesitate'', which translates as ``entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily''.
In many cases this is interpreted as ``keep it simple'', but in reality the Razor has a more subtle and
interesting meaning. Suppose that you have two competing theories which describe the same system, if
these theories have different predictions than it is a relatively simple matter to find which one is better:
one does experiments with the required sensitivity and determines which one give the most accurate
predictions. For example, in Copernicus' theory of the solar system the planets move in circles around the
sun, in Kepler's theory they move in ellipses. By measuring carefully the path of the planets it was
determined that they move on ellipses, and Copernicus' theory was then replaced by Kepler's.
But there are are theories which have the very same predictions and it is here that the Razor is useful.
Consider form example the following two theories aimed at describing the motions of the planets around
the sun

The planets move around the sun in ellipses because there is a force between any of them and
the sun which decreases as the square of the distance.
The planets move around the sun in ellipses because there is a force between any of them and
the sun which decreases as the square of the distance. This force is generated by the will of
some powerful aliens.

Since the force between the planets and the sun determines the motion of the former and both theories
posit the same type of force, the predicted motion of the planets will be identical for both theories. the
second theory, however, has additional baggage (the will of the aliens) which is unnecessary for the
description of the system.
If one accepts the second theory solely on the basis that it predicts correctly the motion of the planets one
has also accepted the existence of aliens whose will affect the behavior of things, despite the fact that the
presence or absence of such beings is irrelevant to planetary motion (the only relevant item is the type of
force). In this instance Ockham's Razor would unequivocally reject the second theory. By rejecting this
type of additional irrelevant hypotheses guards against the use of solid scientific results (such as the
prediction of planetary motion) to justify unrelated statements (such as the existence of the aliens) which
may have dramatic consequences. In this case the consequence is that the way planets move, the
reason we fall to the ground when we trip, etc. is due to some powerful alien intellect, that this intellect
permeates our whole solar system, it is with us even now...and from here an infinite number of paranoid
derivations.
For all we know the solar system is permeated by an alien intellect, but the motion of the planets, which
can be explained by the simple idea that there is a force between them and the sun, provides no
evidence of the aliens' presence nor proves their absence.
A more straightforward application of the Razor is when we are face with two theories which have the
same predictions and the available data cannot distinguish between them. In this case the Razor directs
us to study in depth the simplest of the theories. It does not guarantee that the simplest theory will be
correct, it merely establishes priorities.
A related rule, which can be used to slice open conspiracy theories, is Hanlon's Razor: ``Never attribute
to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity''.

Ockham's razor
Ockham's razor (also spelled Occam's razor, pronounced AHK-uhmz RAY-zuhr) is the idea that, in trying
to understand something, getting unnecessary information out of the way is the fastest way to the truth or
to the best explanation. William of Ockham (1285-1349), English theologian and philosopher, spent his
life developing a philosophy that reconciled religious belief with demonstratable, generally experienced
truth, mainly by separating the two. Where earlier philosophers attempted to justify God's existence with
rational proof, Ockham declared religious belief to be incapable of such proof and a matter of faith. He
rejected the notions preserved from Classical times of the independent existence of qualities such as
truth, hardness, and durability and said these ideas had value only as descriptions of particular objects
and were really characteristics of human cognition.
Ockham was noted for his insistence on paying close attention to language as a tool for thinking and on
observation as a tool for testing reality. His thinking and writing is considered to have laid the groundwork
for modern scientific inquiry.
Ockham's insistence on the use of parsimony (we might call it minimalism) in thought resulted in some
later writer's invention of the term, Ockham's razor. Among his statements (translated from his Latin) are:
"Plurality is not to be assumed without necessity" and "What can be done with fewer [assumptions] is
done in vain with more." One consequence of this methodology is the idea that the simplest or most
obvious explanation of several competing ones is the one that should be preferred until it is proven
wrong.

William of Ockhams Life:

William of Ockham, the Franciscan scholastic, nominalist, and "doctor invincibilis," was born at Ockham in
1280 and died in Munich on April 10, 1349. Of his early life, little is known. He entered the Franciscan
order at an early age. He received his bachelor's degree at Oxford, and his master's at Paris, where he
taught from a date between 1315 and 1320. The tradition that he was a pupil of Duns Scotus is probably
correct. He didnt return to England to teach at Oxford but taught in Paris. His doctrines had taken such
hold there by 1339 that the philosophical faculty felt obliged to issue a warning against them. By that time
he had left Paris & the question of the virtue of poverty determined the later course of his life. Along with
his Franciscan brothers he threw all his strength into the defense of the ideal of absolute poverty in
opposition to the pope, John XXII. This drew Ockham & other extreme Franciscans together with the
Emperor Louis the Bavarian, another opponent of John XXII. Ockham was a chief supporter the general
Michael of Cesena, both supporting the strict view of the absolute poverty of Christ and the apostles as a
necessary ideal. In December of 1323, he was summoned with some others to appear before the pope at
Avignon, and was imprisoned there for over four years. On May 25, 1328, Michael of Cesena arranged
his escape and flight to Italy. Deposed and excommunicated, they made common cause with the
emperor, Louis who was then in Italy.
In 1329 a general chapter held in Paris deposed Michael of Cesena from his office, and two years later he
and his adherents were expelled from the order. Ockham became one of the emperor's principal advisers
and literary defenders. He there developed the political ideas he had already represented in Paris &
adapted them to the circumstances of the time.
In stepping outside the range of pure theology, he never forgot that he was a theologian. The beliefs that
John XXII was a heretic and no true pope & his belief in the poverty of Christ & the apostles, were articles
of faith that were as much a part of his fixed belief system as the idea that the State and the rights of the
emperor were independent of pope and Church.
The Franciscans followed him to Munich in February of1330 and took up their abode in a neighboring
house of the order, where most of the political writings of Ockham were composed. In 1342 Michael of
Cesena died, transmitting the seal of the order and his claims to its headship to Ockham. The death of
Louis on Oct. 11, 1347 , the loss of some of the Munich group, and the reconciliation of the new Emperor
Charles IV. with the papacy, left Ockham increasingly alone. He was again cited in 1349 by the papal
tribunal, but the negotiations came to naught after he refused to admit that Louis was heretical &
schismatic. Clement VI. demanded that the Franciscan order take action. A chapter held in Whitsuntide,
1349, sent the seal back to Rome with a petition for Ockhams release from excommunication. On June
8, 1349. The pope offered to grant the request on condition of their subscribing a formula that was less
stringent than that issued by John XXII. Some say Ockham signed the offer & was absolved, but
Jacobus de Marchia says expressly that the three principal leaders "remained excommunicated heretics."
He may have stayed inflexible or death may have intervened too soon to allow his acceptance of the
terms of peace. The date of Ockhams death is uncertain; he was undoubtedly alive in the spring of 1349.
Thus the date given on his monument (of later construction) in the former Franciscan chapel at Alunich
(April 10, 1347) cannot be right. The day and month are correct, but the year was either 1350, or more
probably 1349. This would account for the theory that he had announced his readiness to make
submission, but died before it could be accomplished.

Pluralitas non est

ponenda sine necessitate
William of Ockham
1285-1349