Entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity

[ygolo]

The title of this thread is my favorite translation of Occam's Razor.

Things should be as simple as possible but no simpler.

That is a paraphraze of a quote from Einstien.

Please, discuss....

Pretty Please.

 

[Totenkindly]

The title of this thread ["Entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity"] is my favorite translation of Occam's Razor.

Things should be as simple as possible but no simpler.

That is a paraphraze of a quote from Einstein.

Would that make him a paraparazzi?

What is there to discuss? It seems reasonable enough to me.

As a general rule, it is a good guiding principle. I think sometimes though the phrase is thrown out a bit too early in philosophical discussions -- people not really considering the context of the topical discussion, nor the details of the situation being discussed, but just wanting to shut down further discussion by decrying any complication in someone's theory.

Dan Dennett said something about Occam's in one of his recent books that impacted me, but my brain is as fried as an overcooked egg right now and I'll need to go look it up, to jog my memory...

 

[ygolo]

Would that make him a paraparazzi?

What is there to discuss? It seems reasonable enough to me.

As a general rule, it is a good guiding principle. I think sometimes though the phrase is thrown out a bit too early in philosophical discussions -- people not really considering the context of the topical discussion, nor the details of the situation being discussed, but just wanting to shut down further discussion by decrying any complication in someone's theory.

I guess what there is to discuss, is how you decide what is "beyond necessity" or if something is as simple as possible or simpler than it should be.

Dan Dennett said something about Occam's in one of his recent books that impacted me, but my brain is as fried as an overcooked egg right now and I'll need to go look it up, to jog my memory...

Was it that Occam's razor is the reason why we believe physical law and natural selection are enough to create the variety of species even thought we don't know all the details?

 

[Varelse]

I need to remind htb of this concept.

Overall, it's one that seems sensible to me, especially in light of some of the elaborate machinations and conspiracies I've seen some from some people.