What on earth is a fifty percent chance of rain? How do you respond to that, carry half of an umbrella? - Lawrence Block in the voice of Matthew Scudder, A Drop of the Hard Stuff, p.41
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Ockham? Fockham!
Nothing ought to be posited without a reason given, unless it is self-evident or known by experience or proved by the authority of Sacred Scripture.Some of us immediately envision Emily Litella saying, "Oh. Well. That's very different. Never mind!" Scientific explanations simply cannot compete with sacred scripture in authority or simplicity. So unless you're willing to toss out the science with the bathwater... razor away the skin with the beard? ... you may not want to cite Ockham as your authority in simplifying an explanation.
Please go read Vallee's post. It is elegantly laid out, and has nice medieval illustrations including a larger image of the above portrait allegedly of Ockham.
(H/T ellroon, by proximity to another BoingBoing post she linked.)
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Darn! I've just recently taught myself all about Ockham's razor so I could have fights on the internets. Now what?
ReplyDeleteI still don't understand the "razor" part...
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