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id="toc-Formulations_before_William_of_Ockham" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Formulations_before_William_of_Ockham"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">1.1</span> <span>Formulations before William of Ockham</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Formulations_before_William_of_Ockham-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-William_of_Ockham" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#William_of_Ockham"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">1.2</span> <span>William of Ockham</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-William_of_Ockham-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Later_formulations" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Later_formulations"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">1.3</span> <span>Later formulations</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Later_formulations-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Justifications" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Justifications"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2</span> <span>Justifications</span> </div> </a> <button aria-controls="toc-Justifications-sublist" class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-toc-toggle"> <span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-expand"></span> <span>Toggle Justifications subsection</span> </button> <ul id="toc-Justifications-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Aesthetic" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Aesthetic"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.1</span> <span>Aesthetic</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Aesthetic-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Empirical" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Empirical"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.2</span> <span>Empirical</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Empirical-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Testing_the_razor" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-3"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Testing_the_razor"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.2.1</span> <span>Testing the razor</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Testing_the_razor-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Practical_considerations_and_pragmatism" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Practical_considerations_and_pragmatism"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.3</span> <span>Practical considerations and pragmatism</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Practical_considerations_and_pragmatism-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Mathematical" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Mathematical"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.4</span> <span>Mathematical</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Mathematical-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Other_philosophers" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Other_philosophers"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.5</span> <span>Other philosophers</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Other_philosophers-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Karl_Popper" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-3"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Karl_Popper"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.5.1</span> <span>Karl Popper</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Karl_Popper-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Elliott_Sober" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-3"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Elliott_Sober"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.5.2</span> <span>Elliott Sober</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Elliott_Sober-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Richard_Swinburne" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-3"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Richard_Swinburne"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.5.3</span> <span>Richard Swinburne</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Richard_Swinburne-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Ludwig_Wittgenstein" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-3"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Ludwig_Wittgenstein"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.5.4</span> <span>Ludwig Wittgenstein</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Ludwig_Wittgenstein-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Uses" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Uses"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3</span> <span>Uses</span> </div> </a> <button aria-controls="toc-Uses-sublist" class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-toc-toggle"> <span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-expand"></span> <span>Toggle Uses subsection</span> </button> <ul id="toc-Uses-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Science_and_the_scientific_method" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Science_and_the_scientific_method"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3.1</span> <span>Science and the scientific method</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Science_and_the_scientific_method-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Biology" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Biology"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3.2</span> <span>Biology</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Biology-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Religion" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Religion"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3.3</span> <span>Religion</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Religion-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Philosophy_of_mind" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Philosophy_of_mind"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3.4</span> <span>Philosophy of mind</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Philosophy_of_mind-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Penal_ethics" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Penal_ethics"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3.5</span> <span>Penal ethics</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Penal_ethics-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Probability_theory_and_statistics" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Probability_theory_and_statistics"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3.6</span> <span>Probability theory and statistics</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Probability_theory_and_statistics-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Objective_razor" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-3"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Objective_razor"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3.6.1</span> <span>Objective razor</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Objective_razor-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Mathematical_arguments_against_Occam's_razor" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-3"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Mathematical_arguments_against_Occam's_razor"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3.6.2</span> <span>Mathematical arguments against Occam's razor</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Mathematical_arguments_against_Occam's_razor-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Software_development" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Software_development"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3.7</span> <span>Software development</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Software_development-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Artificial_Intelligence" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Artificial_Intelligence"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3.8</span> <span>Artificial Intelligence</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Artificial_Intelligence-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Controversial_aspects" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Controversial_aspects"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4</span> <span>Controversial aspects</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Controversial_aspects-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Anti-razors" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Anti-razors"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">5</span> <span>Anti-razors</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Anti-razors-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Other" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Other"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">6</span> <span>Other</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Other-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-See_also" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#See_also"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">7</span> <span>See also</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-See_also-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Notes" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Notes"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">8</span> <span>Notes</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Notes-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-References" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#References"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">9</span> <span>References</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-References-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Further_reading" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Further_reading"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">10</span> <span>Further reading</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Further_reading-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-External_links" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#External_links"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">11</span> <span>External links</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-External_links-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </div> <div class="mw-content-container"> <main id="content" class="mw-body"> <header class="mw-body-header vector-page-titlebar"> <nav aria-label="Contents" class="vector-toc-landmark"> <div id="vector-page-titlebar-toc" class="vector-dropdown vector-page-titlebar-toc vector-button-flush-left" title="Table of Contents" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-page-titlebar-toc" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Toggle the table of contents" > <label id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-label" for="vector-page-titlebar-toc-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only " aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-listBullet mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-listBullet"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Toggle the table of contents</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-unpinned-container" class="vector-unpinned-container"> </div> </div> </div> </nav> <h1 id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading mw-first-heading"><span class="mw-page-title-main">Occam's razor</span></h1> <div id="p-lang-btn" class="vector-dropdown mw-portlet mw-portlet-lang" > <input type="checkbox" id="p-lang-btn-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-p-lang-btn" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox mw-interlanguage-selector" aria-label="Go to an article in another language. Available in 71 languages" > <label id="p-lang-btn-label" for="p-lang-btn-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--action-progressive mw-portlet-lang-heading-71" aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-language-progressive mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-language-progressive"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">71 languages</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-af mw-list-item"><a href="https://af.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ockham_se_skeermes" title="Ockham se skeermes – Afrikaans" lang="af" hreflang="af" data-title="Ockham se skeermes" data-language-autonym="Afrikaans" data-language-local-name="Afrikaans" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Afrikaans</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ar mw-list-item"><a href="https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%86%D8%B5%D9%84_%D8%A3%D9%88%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%85" title="نصل أوكام – Arabic" lang="ar" hreflang="ar" data-title="نصل أوكام" data-language-autonym="العربية" data-language-local-name="Arabic" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>العربية</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ast mw-list-item"><a href="https://ast.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navaya_d%27Ockham" title="Navaya d'Ockham – Asturian" lang="ast" hreflang="ast" data-title="Navaya d'Ockham" data-language-autonym="Asturianu" data-language-local-name="Asturian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Asturianu</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-az mw-list-item"><a href="https://az.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okkam_%C3%BClg%C3%BCc%C3%BC" title="Okkam ülgücü – Azerbaijani" lang="az" hreflang="az" data-title="Okkam ülgücü" data-language-autonym="Azərbaycanca" data-language-local-name="Azerbaijani" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Azərbaycanca</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-bn mw-list-item"><a href="https://bn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A6%85%E0%A6%95%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%95%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%AE%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%B0_%E0%A6%95%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%B7%E0%A7%81%E0%A6%B0" title="অক্কামের ক্ষুর – Bangla" lang="bn" hreflang="bn" data-title="অক্কামের ক্ষুর" data-language-autonym="বাংলা" data-language-local-name="Bangla" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>বাংলা</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ba mw-list-item"><a href="https://ba.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9E%D0%BA%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%BC_%D0%B1%D3%99%D0%BA%D0%B5%D2%BB%D0%B5" title="Оккам бәкеһе – Bashkir" lang="ba" hreflang="ba" data-title="Оккам бәкеһе" data-language-autonym="Башҡортса" data-language-local-name="Bashkir" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Башҡортса</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-be mw-list-item"><a href="https://be.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%91%D1%80%D1%8B%D1%82%D0%B2%D0%B0_%D0%9E%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%B0" title="Брытва Окама – Belarusian" lang="be" hreflang="be" data-title="Брытва Окама" data-language-autonym="Беларуская" data-language-local-name="Belarusian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Беларуская</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-be-x-old mw-list-item"><a href="https://be-tarask.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9B%D1%8F%D0%B7%D0%BE_%D0%9E%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%B0" title="Лязо Окама – Belarusian (Taraškievica orthography)" lang="be-tarask" hreflang="be-tarask" data-title="Лязо Окама" data-language-autonym="Беларуская (тарашкевіца)" data-language-local-name="Belarusian (Taraškievica orthography)" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Беларуская (тарашкевіца)</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-bg mw-list-item"><a href="https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%91%D1%80%D1%8A%D1%81%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%87_%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D0%9E%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%BC" title="Бръснач на Окам – Bulgarian" lang="bg" hreflang="bg" data-title="Бръснач на Окам" data-language-autonym="Български" data-language-local-name="Bulgarian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Български</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-bar mw-list-item"><a href="https://bar.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rasiamessa_vom_Ockham" title="Rasiamessa vom Ockham – Bavarian" lang="bar" hreflang="bar" data-title="Rasiamessa vom Ockham" data-language-autonym="Boarisch" data-language-local-name="Bavarian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Boarisch</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-bs mw-list-item"><a href="https://bs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ockhamova_britva" title="Ockhamova britva – Bosnian" lang="bs" hreflang="bs" data-title="Ockhamova britva" data-language-autonym="Bosanski" data-language-local-name="Bosnian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Bosanski</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-br mw-list-item"><a href="https://br.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aotenn_Ockham" title="Aotenn Ockham – Breton" lang="br" hreflang="br" data-title="Aotenn Ockham" data-language-autonym="Brezhoneg" data-language-local-name="Breton" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Brezhoneg</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ca mw-list-item"><a href="https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navalla_d%27Occam" title="Navalla d'Occam – Catalan" lang="ca" hreflang="ca" data-title="Navalla d'Occam" data-language-autonym="Català" data-language-local-name="Catalan" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Català</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-cs mw-list-item"><a href="https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occamova_b%C5%99itva" title="Occamova břitva – Czech" lang="cs" hreflang="cs" data-title="Occamova břitva" data-language-autonym="Čeština" data-language-local-name="Czech" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Čeština</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-cy mw-list-item"><a href="https://cy.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rasel_Ockham" title="Rasel Ockham – Welsh" lang="cy" hreflang="cy" data-title="Rasel Ockham" data-language-autonym="Cymraeg" data-language-local-name="Welsh" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Cymraeg</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-da mw-list-item"><a href="https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ockhams_ragekniv" title="Ockhams ragekniv – Danish" lang="da" hreflang="da" data-title="Ockhams ragekniv" data-language-autonym="Dansk" data-language-local-name="Danish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Dansk</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-de badge-Q17437798 badge-goodarticle mw-list-item" title="good article badge"><a href="https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ockhams_Rasiermesser" title="Ockhams Rasiermesser – German" lang="de" hreflang="de" data-title="Ockhams Rasiermesser" data-language-autonym="Deutsch" data-language-local-name="German" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Deutsch</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-et mw-list-item"><a href="https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ockhami_habemenuga" title="Ockhami habemenuga – Estonian" lang="et" hreflang="et" data-title="Ockhami habemenuga" data-language-autonym="Eesti" data-language-local-name="Estonian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Eesti</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-el mw-list-item"><a href="https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%9E%CF%85%CF%81%CE%AC%CF%86%CE%B9_%CF%84%CE%BF%CF%85_%CE%8C%CE%BA%CE%B1%CE%BC" title="Ξυράφι του Όκαμ – Greek" lang="el" hreflang="el" data-title="Ξυράφι του Όκαμ" data-language-autonym="Ελληνικά" data-language-local-name="Greek" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Ελληνικά</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-es mw-list-item"><a href="https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navaja_de_Ockham" title="Navaja de Ockham – Spanish" lang="es" hreflang="es" data-title="Navaja de Ockham" data-language-autonym="Español" data-language-local-name="Spanish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Español</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-eo mw-list-item"><a href="https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Razilo_de_Ockham" title="Razilo de Ockham – Esperanto" lang="eo" hreflang="eo" data-title="Razilo de Ockham" data-language-autonym="Esperanto" data-language-local-name="Esperanto" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Esperanto</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-eu mw-list-item"><a href="https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ockhamen_labana" title="Ockhamen labana – Basque" lang="eu" hreflang="eu" data-title="Ockhamen labana" data-language-autonym="Euskara" data-language-local-name="Basque" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Euskara</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fa mw-list-item"><a href="https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%AA%DB%8C%D8%BA_%D8%A7%D9%88%DA%A9%D8%A7%D9%85" title="تیغ اوکام – Persian" lang="fa" hreflang="fa" data-title="تیغ اوکام" data-language-autonym="فارسی" data-language-local-name="Persian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>فارسی</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fr mw-list-item"><a href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rasoir_d%27Ockham" title="Rasoir d'Ockham – French" lang="fr" hreflang="fr" data-title="Rasoir d'Ockham" data-language-autonym="Français" data-language-local-name="French" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Français</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fy mw-list-item"><a href="https://fy.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skearm%C3%AAs_fan_Ockham" title="Skearmês fan Ockham – Western Frisian" lang="fy" hreflang="fy" data-title="Skearmês fan Ockham" data-language-autonym="Frysk" data-language-local-name="Western Frisian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Frysk</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-gl mw-list-item"><a href="https://gl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navalla_de_Ockham" title="Navalla de Ockham – Galician" lang="gl" hreflang="gl" data-title="Navalla de Ockham" data-language-autonym="Galego" data-language-local-name="Galician" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Galego</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ko mw-list-item"><a href="https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EC%98%A4%EC%BB%B4%EC%9D%98_%EB%A9%B4%EB%8F%84%EB%82%A0" title="오컴의 면도날 – Korean" lang="ko" hreflang="ko" data-title="오컴의 면도날" data-language-autonym="한국어" data-language-local-name="Korean" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>한국어</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-hy mw-list-item"><a href="https://hy.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D5%95%D5%AF%D5%AF%D5%A1%D5%B4%D5%AB_%D5%A1%D5%AE%D5%A5%D5%AC%D5%AB" title="Օկկամի ածելի – Armenian" lang="hy" hreflang="hy" data-title="Օկկամի ածելի" data-language-autonym="Հայերեն" data-language-local-name="Armenian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Հայերեն</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-hr mw-list-item"><a href="https://hr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occamova_britva" title="Occamova britva – Croatian" lang="hr" hreflang="hr" data-title="Occamova britva" data-language-autonym="Hrvatski" data-language-local-name="Croatian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Hrvatski</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-id mw-list-item"><a href="https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pisau_Ockham" title="Pisau Ockham – Indonesian" lang="id" hreflang="id" data-title="Pisau Ockham" data-language-autonym="Bahasa Indonesia" data-language-local-name="Indonesian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Bahasa Indonesia</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-is mw-list-item"><a href="https://is.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rakhn%C3%ADfur_Ockhams" title="Rakhnífur Ockhams – Icelandic" lang="is" hreflang="is" data-title="Rakhnífur Ockhams" data-language-autonym="Íslenska" data-language-local-name="Icelandic" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Íslenska</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-it mw-list-item"><a href="https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rasoio_di_Occam" title="Rasoio di Occam – Italian" lang="it" hreflang="it" data-title="Rasoio di Occam" data-language-autonym="Italiano" data-language-local-name="Italian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Italiano</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-he mw-list-item"><a href="https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%AA%D7%A2%D7%A8%D7%95_%D7%A9%D7%9C_%D7%90%D7%95%D7%A7%D7%90%D7%9D" title="תערו של אוקאם – Hebrew" lang="he" hreflang="he" data-title="תערו של אוקאם" data-language-autonym="עברית" data-language-local-name="Hebrew" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>עברית</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-kk mw-list-item"><a href="https://kk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9E%D0%BA%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%BC_%D2%B1%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%81%D1%8B" title="Оккам ұстарасы – Kazakh" lang="kk" hreflang="kk" data-title="Оккам ұстарасы" data-language-autonym="Қазақша" data-language-local-name="Kazakh" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Қазақша</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ku mw-list-item"><a href="https://ku.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%BBzana_Ockham%C3%AA" title="Dûzana Ockhamê – Kurdish" lang="ku" hreflang="ku" data-title="Dûzana Ockhamê" data-language-autonym="Kurdî" data-language-local-name="Kurdish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Kurdî</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-la mw-list-item"><a href="https://la.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novacula_Occami" title="Novacula Occami – Latin" lang="la" hreflang="la" data-title="Novacula Occami" data-language-autonym="Latina" data-language-local-name="Latin" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Latina</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-lv mw-list-item"><a href="https://lv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okama_%22b%C4%81rdas_nazis%22" title="Okama "bārdas nazis" – Latvian" lang="lv" hreflang="lv" data-title="Okama "bārdas nazis"" data-language-autonym="Latviešu" data-language-local-name="Latvian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Latviešu</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-lt mw-list-item"><a href="https://lt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okamo_skustuvas" title="Okamo skustuvas – Lithuanian" lang="lt" hreflang="lt" data-title="Okamo skustuvas" data-language-autonym="Lietuvių" data-language-local-name="Lithuanian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Lietuvių</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-lmo mw-list-item"><a href="https://lmo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ras%C3%B4_de_l%27Occam" title="Rasô de l'Occam – Lombard" lang="lmo" hreflang="lmo" data-title="Rasô de l'Occam" data-language-autonym="Lombard" data-language-local-name="Lombard" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Lombard</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-hu mw-list-item"><a href="https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam_borotv%C3%A1ja" title="Occam borotvája – Hungarian" lang="hu" hreflang="hu" data-title="Occam borotvája" data-language-autonym="Magyar" data-language-local-name="Hungarian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Magyar</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ml mw-list-item"><a href="https://ml.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B4%93%E0%B4%95%E0%B5%8D%E0%B4%95%E0%B4%AE%E0%B4%BF%E0%B4%A8%E0%B5%8D%E0%B4%B1%E0%B5%86_%E0%B4%95%E0%B4%A4%E0%B5%8D%E0%B4%A4%E0%B4%BF" title="ഓക്കമിന്റെ കത്തി – Malayalam" lang="ml" hreflang="ml" data-title="ഓക്കമിന്റെ കത്തി" data-language-autonym="മലയാളം" data-language-local-name="Malayalam" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>മലയാളം</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-nl mw-list-item"><a href="https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ockhams_scheermes" title="Ockhams scheermes – Dutch" lang="nl" hreflang="nl" data-title="Ockhams scheermes" data-language-autonym="Nederlands" data-language-local-name="Dutch" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Nederlands</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ja mw-list-item"><a href="https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%AA%E3%83%83%E3%82%AB%E3%83%A0%E3%81%AE%E5%89%83%E5%88%80" title="オッカムの剃刀 – Japanese" lang="ja" hreflang="ja" data-title="オッカムの剃刀" data-language-autonym="日本語" data-language-local-name="Japanese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>日本語</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-no mw-list-item"><a href="https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ockhams_barberkniv" title="Ockhams barberkniv – Norwegian Bokmål" lang="nb" hreflang="nb" data-title="Ockhams barberkniv" data-language-autonym="Norsk bokmål" data-language-local-name="Norwegian Bokmål" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Norsk bokmål</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-nn mw-list-item"><a href="https://nn.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ockham_sin_barberkniv" title="Ockham sin barberkniv – Norwegian Nynorsk" lang="nn" hreflang="nn" data-title="Ockham sin barberkniv" data-language-autonym="Norsk nynorsk" data-language-local-name="Norwegian Nynorsk" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Norsk nynorsk</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-oc mw-list-item"><a href="https://oc.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rasor_d%27Occam" title="Rasor d'Occam – Occitan" lang="oc" hreflang="oc" data-title="Rasor d'Occam" data-language-autonym="Occitan" data-language-local-name="Occitan" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Occitan</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-uz mw-list-item"><a href="https://uz.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okkam_ustarasi" title="Okkam ustarasi – Uzbek" lang="uz" hreflang="uz" data-title="Okkam ustarasi" data-language-autonym="Oʻzbekcha / ўзбекча" data-language-local-name="Uzbek" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Oʻzbekcha / ўзбекча</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-pa mw-list-item"><a href="https://pa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A8%94%E0%A8%95%E0%A8%BE%E0%A8%AE_%E0%A8%A6%E0%A8%BE_%E0%A8%89%E0%A8%B8%E0%A8%A4%E0%A8%B0%E0%A8%BE" title="ਔਕਾਮ ਦਾ ਉਸਤਰਾ – Punjabi" lang="pa" hreflang="pa" data-title="ਔਕਾਮ ਦਾ ਉਸਤਰਾ" data-language-autonym="ਪੰਜਾਬੀ" data-language-local-name="Punjabi" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>ਪੰਜਾਬੀ</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ps mw-list-item"><a href="https://ps.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%AF_%D8%A7%D9%88%DA%A9%D8%A7%D9%85_%D8%A7%D9%8F%D8%B3%D8%AA%D9%8F%D8%B1%D9%87_(%DA%86%D8%A7%DA%93%D9%87)" title="د اوکام اُستُره (چاړه) – Pashto" lang="ps" hreflang="ps" data-title="د اوکام اُستُره (چاړه)" data-language-autonym="پښتو" data-language-local-name="Pashto" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>پښتو</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-pl mw-list-item"><a href="https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brzytwa_Ockhama" title="Brzytwa Ockhama – Polish" lang="pl" hreflang="pl" data-title="Brzytwa Ockhama" data-language-autonym="Polski" data-language-local-name="Polish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Polski</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-pt mw-list-item"><a href="https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navalha_de_Ockham" title="Navalha de Ockham – Portuguese" lang="pt" hreflang="pt" data-title="Navalha de Ockham" data-language-autonym="Português" data-language-local-name="Portuguese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Português</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ro mw-list-item"><a href="https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Briciul_lui_Occam" title="Briciul lui Occam – Romanian" lang="ro" hreflang="ro" data-title="Briciul lui Occam" data-language-autonym="Română" data-language-local-name="Romanian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Română</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ru mw-list-item"><a href="https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%91%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%B2%D0%B0_%D0%9E%D0%BA%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%B0" title="Бритва Оккама – Russian" lang="ru" hreflang="ru" data-title="Бритва Оккама" data-language-autonym="Русский" data-language-local-name="Russian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Русский</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sco mw-list-item"><a href="https://sco.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam%27s_razor" title="Occam's razor – Scots" lang="sco" hreflang="sco" data-title="Occam's razor" data-language-autonym="Scots" data-language-local-name="Scots" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Scots</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-scn mw-list-item"><a href="https://scn.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rasolu_di_Occam" title="Rasolu di Occam – Sicilian" lang="scn" hreflang="scn" data-title="Rasolu di Occam" data-language-autonym="Sicilianu" data-language-local-name="Sicilian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Sicilianu</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-simple mw-list-item"><a href="https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam%27s_razor" title="Occam's razor – Simple English" lang="en-simple" hreflang="en-simple" data-title="Occam's razor" data-language-autonym="Simple English" data-language-local-name="Simple English" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Simple English</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sk mw-list-item"><a href="https://sk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occamova_britva" title="Occamova britva – Slovak" lang="sk" hreflang="sk" data-title="Occamova britva" data-language-autonym="Slovenčina" data-language-local-name="Slovak" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Slovenčina</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sl mw-list-item"><a href="https://sl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ockhamova_britev" title="Ockhamova britev – Slovenian" lang="sl" hreflang="sl" data-title="Ockhamova britev" data-language-autonym="Slovenščina" data-language-local-name="Slovenian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Slovenščina</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ckb mw-list-item"><a href="https://ckb.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%AA%DB%8C%D8%BA%DB%8C_%D8%A6%DB%86%DA%A9%D8%A7%D9%85" title="تیغی ئۆکام – Central Kurdish" lang="ckb" hreflang="ckb" data-title="تیغی ئۆکام" data-language-autonym="کوردی" data-language-local-name="Central Kurdish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>کوردی</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sr mw-list-item"><a href="https://sr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9E%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B0_%D0%B1%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%B2%D0%B0" title="Окамова бритва – Serbian" lang="sr" hreflang="sr" data-title="Окамова бритва" data-language-autonym="Српски / srpski" data-language-local-name="Serbian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Српски / srpski</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sh mw-list-item"><a href="https://sh.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occamova_o%C5%A1trica" title="Occamova oštrica – Serbo-Croatian" lang="sh" hreflang="sh" data-title="Occamova oštrica" data-language-autonym="Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски" data-language-local-name="Serbo-Croatian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-su mw-list-item"><a href="https://su.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C3%A9so_Ockham" title="Péso Ockham – Sundanese" lang="su" hreflang="su" data-title="Péso Ockham" data-language-autonym="Sunda" data-language-local-name="Sundanese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Sunda</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fi mw-list-item"><a href="https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occamin_partaveitsi" title="Occamin partaveitsi – Finnish" lang="fi" hreflang="fi" data-title="Occamin partaveitsi" data-language-autonym="Suomi" data-language-local-name="Finnish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Suomi</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sv mw-list-item"><a href="https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ockhams_rakkniv" title="Ockhams rakkniv – Swedish" lang="sv" hreflang="sv" data-title="Ockhams rakkniv" data-language-autonym="Svenska" data-language-local-name="Swedish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Svenska</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-th mw-list-item"><a href="https://th.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B8%A1%E0%B8%B5%E0%B8%94%E0%B9%82%E0%B8%81%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%81%E0%B8%84%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%A1" title="มีดโกนออกคัม – Thai" lang="th" hreflang="th" data-title="มีดโกนออกคัม" data-language-autonym="ไทย" data-language-local-name="Thai" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>ไทย</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-tr mw-list-item"><a href="https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ockham%27%C4%B1n_usturas%C4%B1" title="Ockham'ın usturası – Turkish" lang="tr" hreflang="tr" data-title="Ockham'ın usturası" data-language-autonym="Türkçe" data-language-local-name="Turkish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Türkçe</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-uk mw-list-item"><a href="https://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%91%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%B2%D0%B0_%D0%9E%D0%BA%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%B0" title="Бритва Оккама – Ukrainian" lang="uk" hreflang="uk" data-title="Бритва Оккама" data-language-autonym="Українська" data-language-local-name="Ukrainian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Українська</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-vi mw-list-item"><a href="https://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dao_c%E1%BA%A1o_Ockham" title="Dao cạo Ockham – Vietnamese" lang="vi" hreflang="vi" data-title="Dao cạo Ockham" data-language-autonym="Tiếng Việt" data-language-local-name="Vietnamese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Tiếng Việt</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-wuu mw-list-item"><a href="https://wuu.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%A5%A5%E5%8D%A1%E5%A7%86%E5%89%83%E5%88%80" title="奥卡姆剃刀 – Wu" lang="wuu" hreflang="wuu" data-title="奥卡姆剃刀" data-language-autonym="吴语" data-language-local-name="Wu" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>吴语</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-zh-yue mw-list-item"><a href="https://zh-yue.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%A5%A7%E5%9D%8E%E5%89%83%E5%88%80" title="奧坎剃刀 – Cantonese" lang="yue" hreflang="yue" data-title="奧坎剃刀" data-language-autonym="粵語" data-language-local-name="Cantonese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>粵語</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-zh 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</div> </div> <div id="bodyContent" class="vector-body" aria-labelledby="firstHeading" data-mw-ve-target-container> <div class="vector-body-before-content"> <div class="mw-indicators"> </div> <div id="siteSub" class="noprint">From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</div> </div> <div id="contentSub"><div id="mw-content-subtitle"></div></div> <div id="mw-content-text" class="mw-body-content"><div class="mw-content-ltr mw-parser-output" lang="en" dir="ltr"><div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none">Philosophical problem-solving principle</div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1236090951">.mw-parser-output .hatnote{font-style:italic}.mw-parser-output div.hatnote{padding-left:1.6em;margin-bottom:0.5em}.mw-parser-output .hatnote i{font-style:normal}.mw-parser-output .hatnote+link+.hatnote{margin-top:-0.5em}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .hatnote{display:none!important}}</style><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">For other uses, see <a href="/wiki/Occam%27s_Razor_(disambiguation)" class="mw-disambig" title="Occam's Razor (disambiguation)">Occam's Razor (disambiguation)</a>.</div> <p class="mw-empty-elt"> </p><p>In <a href="/wiki/Philosophy" title="Philosophy">philosophy</a>, <b>Occam's razor</b> (also spelled <b>Ockham's razor</b> or <b>Ocham's razor</b>; <a href="/wiki/Latin_language" class="mw-redirect" title="Latin language">Latin</a>: <i lang="la">novacula Occami</i>) is the <a href="/wiki/Problem-solving" class="mw-redirect" title="Problem-solving">problem-solving</a> principle that recommends searching for explanations constructed with the smallest possible set of elements. It is also known as the <b>principle of parsimony</b> or the <b>law of parsimony</b> (<a href="/wiki/Latin_language" class="mw-redirect" title="Latin language">Latin</a>: <i lang="la">lex parsimoniae</i>). Attributed to <a href="/wiki/William_of_Ockham" title="William of Ockham">William of Ockham</a>, a 14th-century English <a href="/wiki/Philosopher" class="mw-redirect" title="Philosopher">philosopher</a> and <a href="/wiki/Theologian" class="mw-redirect" title="Theologian">theologian</a>, it is frequently cited as <span title="Latin-language text"><i lang="la">Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem</i></span>, which translates as "Entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity",<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> 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."<sup id="cite_ref-Britannica2021_3-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Britannica2021-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>This <a href="/wiki/Philosophical_razor" title="Philosophical razor">philosophical razor</a> advocates that when presented with competing <a href="/wiki/Hypothesis" title="Hypothesis">hypotheses</a> about the same prediction and both hypotheses have equal explanatory power, one should prefer the hypothesis that requires the fewest assumptions,<sup id="cite_ref-:0_4-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:0-4"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>4<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> 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 <a href="/wiki/Abductive_reasoning" title="Abductive reasoning">abductive</a> <a href="/wiki/Heuristic" title="Heuristic">heuristic</a> in the development of theoretical models rather than as a rigorous arbiter between candidate models.<sup id="cite_ref-fn_(100)_5-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-fn_(100)-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-fn_(101)_6-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-fn_(101)-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>6<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <meta property="mw:PageProp/toc" /> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="History">History</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Occam%27s_razor&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: History"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>The phrase <i>Occam's razor</i> did not appear until a few centuries after William of Ockham's death in 1347. <a href="/wiki/Libert_Froidmont" title="Libert Froidmont">Libert Froidmont</a>, in his <i>On Christian Philosophy of the Soul</i>, gives him credit for the phrase, speaking of "<i>novacula occami</i>".<sup id="cite_ref-Sober_2015_4_7-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Sober_2015_4-7"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>7<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Ockham did not invent this principle, but its fame—and its association with him—may be due to the frequency and effectiveness with which he used it.<sup id="cite_ref-8" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-8"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>8<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Ockham stated the principle in various ways, but the most popular version, "Entities are not to be multiplied without necessity" (<span title="Latin-language text"><i lang="la">Non sunt multiplicanda entia sine necessitate</i></span>) was formulated by the Irish <a href="/wiki/Franciscan" class="mw-redirect" title="Franciscan">Franciscan</a> philosopher <a href="/wiki/John_Punch_(theologian)" title="John Punch (theologian)">John Punch</a> in his 1639 commentary on the works of <a href="/wiki/Duns_Scotus" title="Duns Scotus">Duns Scotus</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-commentary_9-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-commentary-9"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>9<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Formulations_before_William_of_Ockham">Formulations before William of Ockham</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Occam%27s_razor&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: Formulations before William of Ockham"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <figure class="mw-default-size" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Pluralitas.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cf/Pluralitas.jpg/220px-Pluralitas.jpg" decoding="async" width="220" height="82" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cf/Pluralitas.jpg/330px-Pluralitas.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cf/Pluralitas.jpg/440px-Pluralitas.jpg 2x" data-file-width="850" data-file-height="316" /></a><figcaption>Part of a page from <a href="/wiki/John_Duns_Scotus" class="mw-redirect" title="John Duns Scotus">John Duns Scotus</a>'s book <i>Commentaria oxoniensia ad IV libros magistri Sententiarus</i>, showing the words: "<span title="Latin-language text"><i lang="la">Pluralitas non est ponenda sine necessitate</i></span>", i.e., "Plurality is not to be posited without necessity"</figcaption></figure> <p>The origins of what has come to be known as Occam's razor are traceable to the works of earlier philosophers such as <a href="/wiki/John_Duns_Scotus" class="mw-redirect" title="John Duns Scotus">John Duns Scotus</a> (1265–1308), <a href="/wiki/Robert_Grosseteste" title="Robert Grosseteste">Robert Grosseteste</a> (1175–1253), <a href="/wiki/Maimonides" title="Maimonides">Maimonides</a> (Moses ben-Maimon, 1138–1204), and even <a href="/wiki/Aristotle" title="Aristotle">Aristotle</a> (384–322 BC).<sup id="cite_ref-10" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-10"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>10<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-11" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-11"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>11<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Aristotle writes in his <i><a href="/wiki/Posterior_Analytics" title="Posterior Analytics">Posterior Analytics</a></i>, "We may assume the superiority <span title="Latin-language text"><i lang="la">ceteris paribus</i></span> [other things being equal] of the demonstration which derives from fewer postulates or hypotheses." <a href="/wiki/Ptolemy" title="Ptolemy">Ptolemy</a> (<span class="nowrap"><abbr title="circa">c.</abbr><span style="white-space:nowrap;"> AD 90</span> – c.<span style="white-space:nowrap;"> 168</span></span>) stated, "We consider it a good principle to explain the phenomena by the simplest hypothesis possible."<sup id="cite_ref-Franklin_12-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Franklin-12"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>12<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>Phrases such as "It is vain to do with more what can be done with fewer" and "A plurality is not to be posited without necessity" were commonplace in 13th-century <a href="/wiki/Scholasticism" title="Scholasticism">scholastic</a> writing.<sup id="cite_ref-Franklin_12-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Franklin-12"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>12<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Robert Grosseteste, in <i>Commentary on</i> [Aristotle's] <i>the Posterior Analytics Books</i> (<i>Commentarius in Posteriorum Analyticorum Libros</i>) (<abbr title="circa">c.</abbr><span style="white-space:nowrap;"> 1217–1220</span>), declares: "That is better and more valuable which requires fewer, other circumstances being equal... For if one thing were demonstrated from many and another thing from fewer equally known premises, clearly that is better which is from fewer because it makes us know quickly, just as a universal demonstration is better than particular because it produces knowledge from fewer premises. Similarly in natural science, in moral science, and in metaphysics the best is that which needs no premises and the better that which needs the fewer, other circumstances being equal."<sup id="cite_ref-13" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-13"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>13<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>The <i><a href="/wiki/Summa_Theologica" title="Summa Theologica">Summa Theologica</a></i> of <a href="/wiki/Thomas_Aquinas" title="Thomas Aquinas">Thomas Aquinas</a> (1225–1274) states that "it is superfluous to suppose that what can be accounted for by a few principles has been produced by many." Aquinas uses this principle to construct an objection to <a href="/wiki/God%27s_existence" class="mw-redirect" title="God's existence">God's existence</a>, an objection that he in turn answers and refutes generally (cf. <i><a href="/wiki/Quinque_viae" class="mw-redirect" title="Quinque viae">quinque viae</a></i>), and specifically, through an argument based on <a href="/wiki/Causality" title="Causality">causality</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-14" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-14"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>14<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Hence, Aquinas acknowledges the principle that today is known as Occam's razor, but prefers causal explanations to other simple explanations (cf. also <a href="/wiki/Correlation_does_not_imply_causation" title="Correlation does not imply causation">Correlation does not imply causation</a>). </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="William_of_Ockham">William of Ockham</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Occam%27s_razor&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: William of Ockham"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <figure class="mw-default-size" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:William_of_Ockham_-_Logica_1341.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ab/William_of_Ockham_-_Logica_1341.jpg/220px-William_of_Ockham_-_Logica_1341.jpg" decoding="async" width="220" height="205" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ab/William_of_Ockham_-_Logica_1341.jpg/330px-William_of_Ockham_-_Logica_1341.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/William_of_Ockham_-_Logica_1341.jpg 2x" data-file-width="400" data-file-height="373" /></a><figcaption><a href="/wiki/Manuscript" title="Manuscript">Manuscript</a> illustration of William of Ockham</figcaption></figure> <p><a href="/wiki/William_of_Ockham" title="William of Ockham">William of Ockham</a> (<i>circa</i> 1287–1347) was an English Franciscan friar and <a href="/wiki/Theologian" class="mw-redirect" title="Theologian">theologian</a>, an influential medieval philosopher and a <a href="/wiki/Nominalist" class="mw-redirect" title="Nominalist">nominalist</a>. His popular fame as a great logician rests chiefly on the maxim attributed to him and known as Occam's razor. The term <i>razor</i> refers to distinguishing between two hypotheses either by "shaving away" unnecessary assumptions or cutting apart two similar conclusions. </p><p>While it has been claimed that Occam's razor is not found in any of William's writings,<sup id="cite_ref-15" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-15"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>15<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> one can cite statements such as <span title="Latin-language text"><i lang="la">Numquam ponenda est pluralitas sine necessitate</i></span> ("Plurality must never be posited without necessity"), which occurs in his theological work on the <a href="/wiki/The_Four_Books_of_Sentences" class="mw-redirect" title="The Four Books of Sentences"><i>Sentences of Peter Lombard</i></a> (<i>Quaestiones et decisiones in quattuor libros Sententiarum Petri Lombardi</i>; ed. Lugd., 1495, i, dist. 27, qu. 2, K). </p><p>Nevertheless, the precise words sometimes attributed to William of Ockham, <span title="Latin-language text"><i lang="la">Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem</i></span> (Entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity),<sup id="cite_ref-16" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-16"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>16<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> are absent in his extant works;<sup id="cite_ref-17" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-17"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>17<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> this particular phrasing comes from <a href="/wiki/John_Punch_(theologian)" title="John Punch (theologian)">John Punch</a>,<sup id="cite_ref-18" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-18"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>18<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> who described the principle as a "common axiom" (<i>axioma vulgare</i>) of the Scholastics.<sup id="cite_ref-commentary_9-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-commentary-9"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>9<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> William of Ockham himself seems to restrict the operation of this principle in matters pertaining to miracles and God's power, considering a plurality of miracles possible in the <a href="/wiki/Eucharist" title="Eucharist">Eucharist</a><sup class="noprint Inline-Template" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Please_clarify" title="Wikipedia:Please clarify"><span title="Currently impossible to figure out what this means (exceptions including Christians). Probably should just drop it as the first clause may be enough, or should just footnote it. (February 2021)">further explanation needed</span></a></i>]</sup> simply because it pleases God.<sup id="cite_ref-Franklin_12-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Franklin-12"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>12<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>This principle is sometimes phrased as <span title="Latin-language text"><i lang="la">Pluralitas non est ponenda sine necessitate</i></span> ("Plurality should not be posited without necessity").<sup id="cite_ref-Britannica_19-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Britannica-19"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>19<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> In his <i>Summa Totius Logicae</i>, i. 12, William of Ockham cites the principle of economy, <span title="Latin-language text"><i lang="la">Frustra fit per plura quod potest fieri per pauciora</i></span> ("It is futile to do with more things that which can be done with fewer"; Thorburn, 1918, pp. 352–53; <a href="/wiki/William_Kneale_(logician)" class="mw-redirect" title="William Kneale (logician)">Kneale</a> and Kneale, 1962, p. 243.) </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Later_formulations">Later formulations</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Occam%27s_razor&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: Later formulations"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>To quote <a href="/wiki/Isaac_Newton" title="Isaac Newton">Isaac Newton</a>, "We are to admit no more causes of natural things than such as are both true and sufficient to explain their appearances. Therefore, to the same natural effects we must, as far as possible, assign the same causes."<sup id="cite_ref-Hawking_20-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Hawking-20"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>20<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-21" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-21"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>21<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> In the sentence <a href="/wiki/Hypotheses_non_fingo" title="Hypotheses non fingo">hypotheses non fingo</a>, Newton affirms the success of this approach. </p><p><a href="/wiki/Bertrand_Russell" title="Bertrand Russell">Bertrand Russell</a> offers a particular version of Occam's razor: "Whenever possible, substitute constructions out of known entities for inferences to unknown entities."<sup id="cite_ref-22" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-22"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>22<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>Around 1960, <a href="/wiki/Ray_Solomonoff" title="Ray Solomonoff">Ray Solomonoff</a> founded the <a href="/wiki/Solomonoff%27s_theory_of_inductive_inference" title="Solomonoff's theory of inductive inference">theory of universal inductive inference</a>, the theory of prediction based on observations – for example, predicting the next symbol based upon a given series of symbols. The only assumption is that the environment follows some unknown but computable probability distribution. This theory is a mathematical formalization of Occam's razor.<sup id="cite_ref-ReferenceA_23-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-ReferenceA-23"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>23<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-ReferenceB_24-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-ReferenceB-24"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>24<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-25" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-25"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>25<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>Another technical approach to Occam's razor is <a href="/wiki/Ontological_commitment#Ontological_parsimony" title="Ontological commitment">ontological parsimony</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-Baker_26-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Baker-26"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>26<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Parsimony means spareness and is also referred to as the Rule of Simplicity. This is considered a strong version of Occam's razor.<sup id="cite_ref-math.ucr.edu_27-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-math.ucr.edu-27"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>27<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-28" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-28"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>28<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> A variation used in medicine is called the "<a href="/wiki/Zebra_(medicine)" title="Zebra (medicine)">Zebra</a>": a physician should reject an exotic medical diagnosis when a more commonplace explanation is more likely, derived from <a href="/wiki/Theodore_Woodward" title="Theodore Woodward">Theodore Woodward</a>'s dictum "When you hear hoofbeats, think of horses not zebras".<sup id="cite_ref-29" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-29"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>29<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p><a href="/wiki/Ernst_Mach" title="Ernst Mach">Ernst Mach</a> formulated the stronger version of Occam's razor into <a href="/wiki/Physics" title="Physics">physics</a>, which he called the Principle of Economy stating: "Scientists must use the simplest means of arriving at their results and exclude everything not perceived by the senses."<sup id="cite_ref-30" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-30"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>30<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>This principle goes back at least as far as Aristotle, who wrote "Nature operates in the shortest way possible."<sup id="cite_ref-math.ucr.edu_27-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-math.ucr.edu-27"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>27<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The idea of parsimony or simplicity in deciding between theories, though not the intent of the original expression of Occam's razor, has been assimilated into common culture as the widespread layman's formulation that "the simplest explanation is usually the correct one."<sup id="cite_ref-math.ucr.edu_27-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-math.ucr.edu-27"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>27<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Justifications">Justifications</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Occam%27s_razor&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: Justifications"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Aesthetic">Aesthetic</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Occam%27s_razor&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: Aesthetic"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Prior to the 20th century, it was a commonly held belief that nature itself was simple and that simpler hypotheses about nature were thus more likely to be true. <span class="cleanup-needed-content" style="padding-left:0.1em; padding-right:0.1em; color:var(--color-subtle, #54595d); border:1px solid var(--border-color-subtle, #c8ccd1);">This notion was deeply rooted in the aesthetic value that simplicity holds for human thought and the justifications presented for it often drew from <a href="/wiki/Theology" title="Theology">theology</a>.</span><sup class="noprint Inline-Template" style="margin-left:0.1em; white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Please_clarify" title="Wikipedia:Please clarify"><span title="The example that follows doesn't connect with 'human thoughts' nor explicitly 'theology'. (February 2021)">clarification needed</span></a></i>]</sup> <a href="/wiki/Thomas_Aquinas" title="Thomas Aquinas">Thomas Aquinas</a> made this argument in the 13th century, writing, "If a thing can be done adequately by means of one, it is superfluous to do it by means of several; for we observe that nature does not employ two instruments [if] one suffices."<sup id="cite_ref-31" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-31"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>31<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>Beginning in the 20th century, <a href="/wiki/Epistemology" title="Epistemology">epistemological</a> justifications based on <a href="/wiki/Inductive_reasoning" title="Inductive reasoning">induction</a>, <a href="/wiki/Logic" title="Logic">logic</a>, <a href="/wiki/Pragmatism" title="Pragmatism">pragmatism</a>, and especially <a href="/wiki/Probability_theory" title="Probability theory">probability theory</a> have become more popular among philosophers.<sup id="cite_ref-Sober_2015_4_7-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Sober_2015_4-7"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>7<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Empirical">Empirical</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Occam%27s_razor&action=edit&section=7" title="Edit section: Empirical"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Occam's razor has gained strong empirical support in helping to converge on better theories (see <a href="#Uses">Uses</a> section below for some examples). </p><p>In the related concept of <a href="/wiki/Overfitting" title="Overfitting">overfitting</a>, excessively complex models are affected by <a href="/wiki/Statistical_noise" class="mw-redirect" title="Statistical noise">statistical noise</a> (a problem also known as the <a href="/wiki/Bias%E2%80%93variance_tradeoff" title="Bias–variance tradeoff">bias–variance tradeoff</a>), whereas simpler models may capture the underlying structure better and may thus have better <a href="/wiki/Predictive_inference" class="mw-redirect" title="Predictive inference">predictive</a> performance. It is, however, often difficult to deduce which part of the data is noise (cf. <a href="/wiki/Model_selection" title="Model selection">model selection</a>, <a href="/wiki/Test_set" class="mw-redirect" title="Test set">test set</a>, <a href="/wiki/Minimum_description_length" title="Minimum description length">minimum description length</a>, <a href="/wiki/Bayesian_inference" title="Bayesian inference">Bayesian inference</a>, etc.). </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="Testing_the_razor">Testing the razor</h4><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Occam%27s_razor&action=edit&section=8" title="Edit section: Testing the razor"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1251242444">.mw-parser-output .ambox{border:1px solid #a2a9b1;border-left:10px solid #36c;background-color:#fbfbfb;box-sizing:border-box}.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+style+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+style+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+link+.ambox{margin-top:-1px}html body.mediawiki .mw-parser-output .ambox.mbox-small-left{margin:4px 1em 4px 0;overflow:hidden;width:238px;border-collapse:collapse;font-size:88%;line-height:1.25em}.mw-parser-output .ambox-speedy{border-left:10px solid #b32424;background-color:#fee7e6}.mw-parser-output .ambox-delete{border-left:10px solid #b32424}.mw-parser-output .ambox-content{border-left:10px solid #f28500}.mw-parser-output .ambox-style{border-left:10px solid #fc3}.mw-parser-output .ambox-move{border-left:10px solid #9932cc}.mw-parser-output .ambox-protection{border-left:10px solid #a2a9b1}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-text{border:none;padding:0.25em 0.5em;width:100%}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-image{border:none;padding:2px 0 2px 0.5em;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-imageright{border:none;padding:2px 0.5em 2px 0;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-empty-cell{border:none;padding:0;width:1px}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-image-div{width:52px}@media(min-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .ambox{margin:0 10%}}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .ambox{display:none!important}}</style><table class="box-Original_research plainlinks metadata ambox ambox-content ambox-Original_research" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><div class="mbox-image-div"><span typeof="mw:File"><span><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b4/Ambox_important.svg/40px-Ambox_important.svg.png" decoding="async" width="40" height="40" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b4/Ambox_important.svg/60px-Ambox_important.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b4/Ambox_important.svg/80px-Ambox_important.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="40" data-file-height="40" /></span></span></div></td><td class="mbox-text"><div class="mbox-text-span">This section <b>possibly contains <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:No_original_research" title="Wikipedia:No original research">original research</a></b>. Author of this section cites very few reliable sources, and also consistently conflates simplicity with (logical) truth. Occam's razor is not built to differentiate true hypotheses from false ones.<span class="hide-when-compact"> Please <a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Occam%27s_razor&action=edit">improve it</a> by <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability">verifying</a> the claims made and adding <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources#Inline_citations" title="Wikipedia:Citing sources">inline citations</a>. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed.</span> <span class="date-container"><i>(<span class="date">January 2023</span>)</i></span><span class="hide-when-compact"><i> (<small><a href="/wiki/Help:Maintenance_template_removal" title="Help:Maintenance template removal">Learn how and when to remove this message</a></small>)</i></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table> <p>The razor's statement that "other things being equal, simpler explanations are generally better than more complex ones" is amenable to empirical testing. Another interpretation of the razor's statement would be that "simpler hypotheses are generally better than the complex ones". The procedure to test the former interpretation would compare the track records of simple and comparatively complex explanations. If one accepts the first interpretation, the validity of Occam's razor as a tool would then have to be rejected if the more complex explanations were more often correct than the less complex ones (while the converse would lend support to its use). If the latter interpretation is accepted, the validity of Occam's razor as a tool could possibly be accepted if the simpler hypotheses led to correct conclusions more often than not. </p><p>Even if some increases in complexity are sometimes necessary, there still remains a justified general bias toward the simpler of two competing explanations. To understand why, consider that for each accepted explanation of a phenomenon, there is always an infinite number of possible, more complex, and ultimately incorrect, alternatives. This is so because one can always burden a failing explanation with an <a href="/wiki/Ad_hoc_hypothesis" title="Ad hoc hypothesis">ad hoc hypothesis</a>. Ad hoc hypotheses are justifications that prevent theories from being falsified. </p> <figure class="mw-default-size" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Celtic_Fairy_Tales-1892-048-1.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/43/Celtic_Fairy_Tales-1892-048-1.jpg/220px-Celtic_Fairy_Tales-1892-048-1.jpg" decoding="async" width="220" height="214" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/43/Celtic_Fairy_Tales-1892-048-1.jpg/330px-Celtic_Fairy_Tales-1892-048-1.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/43/Celtic_Fairy_Tales-1892-048-1.jpg/440px-Celtic_Fairy_Tales-1892-048-1.jpg 2x" data-file-width="1016" data-file-height="986" /></a><figcaption>Possible explanations can become needlessly complex. It might be coherent, for instance, to add the involvement of <a href="/wiki/Leprechaun" title="Leprechaun">leprechauns</a> to any explanation, but Occam's razor would prevent such additions unless they were necessary.</figcaption></figure> <p>For example, if a man, accused of breaking a vase, makes <a href="/wiki/Supernatural" title="Supernatural">supernatural</a> claims that <a href="/wiki/Leprechauns" class="mw-redirect" title="Leprechauns">leprechauns</a> were responsible for the breakage, a simple explanation might be that the man did it, but ongoing ad hoc justifications (e.g., "... and that's not me breaking it on the film; they tampered with that, too") could successfully prevent complete disproof. This endless supply of elaborate competing explanations, called saving hypotheses, cannot be technically ruled out – except by using Occam's razor.<sup id="cite_ref-Stanovich2007_32-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Stanovich2007-32"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>32<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-33" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-33"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>33<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-34" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-34"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>34<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>Any more complex theory might still possibly be true. A study of the predictive validity of Occam's razor found 32 published papers that included 97 comparisons of economic forecasts from simple and complex forecasting methods. None of the papers provided a balance of evidence that complexity of method improved forecast accuracy. In the 25 papers with quantitative comparisons, complexity increased forecast errors by an average of 27 percent.<sup id="cite_ref-35" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-35"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>35<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Practical_considerations_and_pragmatism">Practical considerations and pragmatism</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Occam%27s_razor&action=edit&section=9" title="Edit section: Practical considerations and pragmatism"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951" /><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">See also: <a href="/wiki/Pragmatism" title="Pragmatism">Pragmatism</a> and <a href="/wiki/Problem_of_induction" title="Problem of induction">Problem of induction</a></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Mathematical">Mathematical</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Occam%27s_razor&action=edit&section=10" title="Edit section: Mathematical"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951" /><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/wiki/Akaike_information_criterion" title="Akaike information criterion">Akaike information criterion</a></div> <p>One justification of Occam's razor is a direct result of basic <a href="/wiki/Probability_theory" title="Probability theory">probability theory</a>. By definition, all assumptions introduce possibilities for error; if an assumption does not improve the accuracy of a theory, its only effect is to increase the probability that the overall theory is wrong. </p><p>There have also been other attempts to derive Occam's razor from probability theory, including notable attempts made by <a href="/wiki/Harold_Jeffreys" title="Harold Jeffreys">Harold Jeffreys</a> and <a href="/wiki/Edwin_Thompson_Jaynes" title="Edwin Thompson Jaynes">E. T. Jaynes</a>. The probabilistic (Bayesian) basis for Occam's razor is elaborated by <a href="/wiki/David_J._C._MacKay" title="David J. C. MacKay">David J. C. MacKay</a> in chapter 28 of his book <i>Information Theory, Inference, and Learning Algorithms</i>,<sup id="cite_ref-36" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-36"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>36<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> where he emphasizes that a prior bias in favor of simpler models is not required. </p><p><a href="/wiki/William_H._Jefferys" title="William H. Jefferys">William H. Jefferys</a> and <a href="/wiki/James_Berger_(statistician)" class="mw-redirect" title="James Berger (statistician)">James O. Berger</a> (1991) generalize and quantify the original formulation's "assumptions" concept as the degree to which a proposition is unnecessarily accommodating to possible observable data.<sup id="cite_ref-Jefferys_37-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Jefferys-37"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>37<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> They state, "A hypothesis with fewer adjustable parameters will automatically have an enhanced posterior probability, due to the fact that the predictions it makes are sharp."<sup id="cite_ref-Jefferys_37-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Jefferys-37"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>37<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The use of "sharp" here is not only a tongue-in-cheek reference to the idea of a razor, but also indicates that such predictions are more <a href="/wiki/Accuracy_and_precision" title="Accuracy and precision">accurate</a> than competing predictions. The model they propose balances the precision of a theory's predictions against their sharpness, preferring theories that sharply make correct predictions over theories that accommodate a wide range of other possible results. This, again, reflects the mathematical relationship between key concepts in <a href="/wiki/Bayesian_inference" title="Bayesian inference">Bayesian inference</a> (namely <a href="/wiki/Marginal_probability" class="mw-redirect" title="Marginal probability">marginal probability</a>, <a href="/wiki/Conditional_probability" title="Conditional probability">conditional probability</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Posterior_probability" title="Posterior probability">posterior probability</a>). </p><p>The <a href="/wiki/Bias%E2%80%93variance_tradeoff" title="Bias–variance tradeoff">bias–variance tradeoff</a> is a framework that incorporates the Occam's razor principle in its balance between overfitting (associated with lower bias but higher variance) and underfitting (associated with lower variance but higher bias).<sup id="cite_ref-38" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-38"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>38<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Other_philosophers">Other philosophers</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Occam%27s_razor&action=edit&section=11" title="Edit section: Other philosophers"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="Karl_Popper">Karl Popper</h4><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Occam%27s_razor&action=edit&section=12" title="Edit section: Karl Popper"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p><a href="/wiki/Karl_Popper" title="Karl Popper">Karl Popper</a> argues that a preference for simple theories need not appeal to practical or aesthetic considerations. Our preference for simplicity may be justified by its <a href="/wiki/Falsifiability" title="Falsifiability">falsifiability</a> criterion: we prefer simpler theories to more complex ones "because their empirical content is greater; and because they are better testable".<sup id="cite_ref-39" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-39"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>39<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The idea here is that a simple theory applies to more cases than a more complex one, and is thus more easily falsifiable. This is again comparing a simple theory to a more complex theory where both explain the data equally well. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="Elliott_Sober">Elliott Sober</h4><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Occam%27s_razor&action=edit&section=13" title="Edit section: Elliott Sober"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>The philosopher of science <a href="/wiki/Elliott_Sober" title="Elliott Sober">Elliott Sober</a> once argued along the same lines as Popper, tying simplicity with "informativeness": The simplest theory is the more informative, in the sense that it requires less information to a question.<sup id="cite_ref-Sober975_40-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Sober975-40"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>40<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> He has since rejected this account of simplicity, purportedly because it fails to provide an <a href="/wiki/Epistemology" title="Epistemology">epistemic</a> justification for simplicity. He now believes that simplicity considerations (and considerations of parsimony in particular) do not count unless they reflect something more fundamental. Philosophers, he suggests, may have made the error of hypostatizing simplicity (i.e., endowed it with a <i><a href="/wiki/Sui_generis" title="Sui generis">sui generis</a></i> existence), when it has meaning only when embedded in a specific context (Sober 1992). If we fail to justify simplicity considerations on the basis of the context in which we use them, we may have no non-circular justification: "Just as the question 'why be rational?' may have no non-circular answer, the same may be true of the question 'why should simplicity be considered in evaluating the plausibility of hypotheses?<span style="padding-right:.15em;">'</span>"<sup id="cite_ref-Sober2002_41-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Sober2002-41"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>41<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="Richard_Swinburne">Richard Swinburne</h4><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Occam%27s_razor&action=edit&section=14" title="Edit section: Richard Swinburne"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p><a href="/wiki/Richard_Swinburne" title="Richard Swinburne">Richard Swinburne</a> argues for simplicity on logical grounds: </p> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1244412712">.mw-parser-output .templatequote{overflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 32px}.mw-parser-output .templatequotecite{line-height:1.5em;text-align:left;margin-top:0}@media(min-width:500px){.mw-parser-output .templatequotecite{padding-left:1.6em}}</style><blockquote class="templatequote"><p>... the simplest hypothesis proposed as an explanation of phenomena is more likely to be the true one than is any other available hypothesis, that its predictions are more likely to be true than those of any other available hypothesis, and that it is an ultimate <i>a priori</i> epistemic principle that simplicity is evidence for truth.</p><div class="templatequotecite">— <cite>Swinburne 1997</cite></div></blockquote> <p>According to Swinburne, since our choice of theory cannot be determined by data (see <a href="/wiki/Underdetermination" title="Underdetermination">Underdetermination</a> and <a href="/wiki/Duhem%E2%80%93Quine_thesis" title="Duhem–Quine thesis">Duhem–Quine thesis</a>), we must rely on some criterion to determine which theory to use. Since it is absurd to have no logical method for settling on one hypothesis amongst an infinite number of equally data-compliant hypotheses, we should choose the simplest theory: "Either science is irrational [in the way it judges theories and predictions probable] or the principle of simplicity is a fundamental synthetic a priori truth."<sup id="cite_ref-42" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-42"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>42<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="Ludwig_Wittgenstein">Ludwig Wittgenstein</h4><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Occam%27s_razor&action=edit&section=15" title="Edit section: Ludwig Wittgenstein"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>From the <i><a href="/wiki/Tractatus_Logico-Philosophicus" title="Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus">Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus</a></i>: </p> <ul><li>3.328 "If a sign is not necessary then it is meaningless. That is the meaning of Occam's Razor."</li></ul> <dl><dd>(If everything in the symbolism works as though a sign had meaning, then it has meaning.)</dd></dl> <ul><li>4.04 "In the proposition, there must be exactly as many things distinguishable as there are in the state of affairs, which it represents. They must both possess the same logical (mathematical) multiplicity (cf. Hertz's Mechanics, on Dynamic Models)."</li> <li>5.47321 "Occam's Razor is, of course, not an arbitrary rule nor one justified by its practical success. It simply says that unnecessary elements in a symbolism mean nothing. Signs which serve one purpose are logically equivalent; signs which serve no purpose are logically meaningless."</li></ul> <p>and on the related concept of "simplicity": </p> <ul><li>6.363 "The procedure of induction consists in accepting as true the simplest law that can be reconciled with our experiences."</li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Uses">Uses</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Occam%27s_razor&action=edit&section=16" title="Edit section: Uses"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1251242444" /><table class="box-Original_research plainlinks metadata ambox ambox-content ambox-Original_research" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><div class="mbox-image-div"><span typeof="mw:File"><span><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b4/Ambox_important.svg/40px-Ambox_important.svg.png" decoding="async" width="40" height="40" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b4/Ambox_important.svg/60px-Ambox_important.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b4/Ambox_important.svg/80px-Ambox_important.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="40" data-file-height="40" /></span></span></div></td><td class="mbox-text"><div class="mbox-text-span">This section <b>possibly contains <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:No_original_research" title="Wikipedia:No original research">original research</a></b>.<span class="hide-when-compact"> Please <a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Occam%27s_razor&action=edit">improve it</a> by <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability">verifying</a> the claims made and adding <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources#Inline_citations" title="Wikipedia:Citing sources">inline citations</a>. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed.</span> <span class="date-container"><i>(<span class="date">May 2021</span>)</i></span><span class="hide-when-compact"><i> (<small><a href="/wiki/Help:Maintenance_template_removal" title="Help:Maintenance template removal">Learn how and when to remove this message</a></small>)</i></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Science_and_the_scientific_method">Science and the scientific method</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Occam%27s_razor&action=edit&section=17" title="Edit section: Science and the scientific method"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <figure class="mw-halign-right" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Heliocentric.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/57/Heliocentric.jpg/250px-Heliocentric.jpg" decoding="async" width="250" height="211" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/57/Heliocentric.jpg/375px-Heliocentric.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/57/Heliocentric.jpg/500px-Heliocentric.jpg 2x" data-file-width="570" data-file-height="480" /></a><figcaption><a href="/wiki/Andreas_Cellarius" title="Andreas Cellarius">Andreas Cellarius</a>'s illustration of the Copernican system, from the <i><a href="/wiki/Harmonia_Macrocosmica" title="Harmonia Macrocosmica">Harmonia Macrocosmica</a></i> (1660). Future positions of the sun, moon and other solar system bodies can be calculated using a <a href="/wiki/Geocentrism" class="mw-redirect" title="Geocentrism">geocentric</a> model (the earth is at the centre) or using a <a href="/wiki/Heliocentrism#Modern_science" title="Heliocentrism">heliocentric model</a> (the sun is at the centre). Both work, but the geocentric model requires a much more complex system of calculations than the heliocentric model. This was pointed out in a preface to <a href="/wiki/Copernicus" class="mw-redirect" title="Copernicus">Copernicus</a>'s first edition of <i><a href="/wiki/De_revolutionibus_orbium_coelestium" title="De revolutionibus orbium coelestium">De revolutionibus orbium coelestium</a></i>.</figcaption></figure> <p>In <a href="/wiki/Science" title="Science">science</a>, Occam's razor is used as a <a href="/wiki/Heuristic" title="Heuristic">heuristic</a> to guide scientists in developing theoretical models rather than as an arbiter between published models.<sup id="cite_ref-fn_(100)_5-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-fn_(100)-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-fn_(101)_6-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-fn_(101)-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>6<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> In <a href="/wiki/Physics" title="Physics">physics</a>, parsimony was an important heuristic in the development and application of the <a href="/wiki/Principle_of_least_action" class="mw-redirect" title="Principle of least action">principle of least action</a> by <a href="/wiki/Pierre_Louis_Maupertuis" title="Pierre Louis Maupertuis">Pierre Louis Maupertuis</a> and <a href="/wiki/Leonhard_Euler" title="Leonhard Euler">Leonhard Euler</a>,<sup id="cite_ref-fn_(104)_43-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-fn_(104)-43"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>43<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> in <a href="/wiki/Albert_Einstein" title="Albert Einstein">Albert Einstein</a>'s formulation of <a href="/wiki/Special_relativity" title="Special relativity">special relativity</a>,<sup id="cite_ref-fn_(102)_44-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-fn_(102)-44"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>44<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-fn_(103)_45-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-fn_(103)-45"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>45<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> and in the development of <a href="/wiki/Quantum_mechanics" title="Quantum mechanics">quantum mechanics</a> by <a href="/wiki/Max_Planck" title="Max Planck">Max Planck</a>, <a href="/wiki/Werner_Heisenberg" title="Werner Heisenberg">Werner Heisenberg</a> and <a href="/wiki/Louis_de_Broglie" title="Louis de Broglie">Louis de Broglie</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-fn_(101)_6-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-fn_(101)-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>6<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-fn_(105)_46-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-fn_(105)-46"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>46<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>In <a href="/wiki/Chemistry" title="Chemistry">chemistry</a>, Occam's razor is often an important heuristic when developing a model of a <a href="/wiki/Reaction_mechanism" title="Reaction mechanism">reaction mechanism</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-fn_(107)_47-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-fn_(107)-47"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>47<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-fn_(108)_48-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-fn_(108)-48"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>48<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Although it is useful as a heuristic in developing models of reaction mechanisms, it has been shown to fail as a criterion for selecting among some selected published models.<sup id="cite_ref-fn_(101)_6-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-fn_(101)-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>6<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> In this context, Einstein himself expressed caution when he formulated Einstein's <a href="/wiki/Constraint_counting" title="Constraint counting">Constraint</a>: "It can scarcely be denied that the supreme goal of all theory is to make the irreducible basic elements as simple and as few as possible without having to surrender the adequate representation of a single datum of experience."<sup id="cite_ref-49" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-49"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>49<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-50" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-50"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>50<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-51" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-51"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>51<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> An often-quoted version of this constraint (which cannot be verified as posited by Einstein himself)<sup id="cite_ref-52" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-52"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>52<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> reduces this to "Everything should be kept as simple as possible, but not simpler." </p><p>In the <a href="/wiki/Scientific_method" title="Scientific method">scientific method</a>, Occam's razor is not considered an irrefutable principle of <a href="/wiki/Logic" title="Logic">logic</a> or a scientific result; the preference for simplicity in the scientific method is based on the <a href="/wiki/Falsifiability" title="Falsifiability">falsifiability</a> criterion. For each accepted explanation of a phenomenon, there may be an extremely large, perhaps even incomprehensible, number of possible and more complex alternatives. Since failing explanations can always be burdened with <a href="/wiki/Ad_hoc_hypothesis" title="Ad hoc hypothesis"><i>ad hoc</i> hypotheses</a> to prevent them from being falsified, simpler theories are preferable to more complex ones because they tend to be more <a href="/wiki/Test_method" title="Test method">testable</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-fn_(109)_53-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-fn_(109)-53"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>53<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-fn_(110)_54-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-fn_(110)-54"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>54<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-fn_(114)_55-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-fn_(114)-55"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>55<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> As a logical principle, Occam's razor would demand that scientists accept the simplest possible theoretical explanation for existing data. However, science has shown repeatedly that future data often support more complex theories than do existing data. Science prefers the simplest explanation that is consistent with the data available at a given time, but the simplest explanation may be ruled out as new data become available.<sup id="cite_ref-fn_(100)_5-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-fn_(100)-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-fn_(110)_54-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-fn_(110)-54"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>54<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> That is, science is open to the possibility that future experiments might support more complex theories than demanded by current data and is more interested in designing experiments to discriminate between competing theories than favoring one theory over another based merely on philosophical principles.<sup id="cite_ref-fn_(109)_53-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-fn_(109)-53"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>53<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-fn_(110)_54-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-fn_(110)-54"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>54<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-fn_(114)_55-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-fn_(114)-55"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>55<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>When scientists use the idea of parsimony, it has meaning only in a very specific context of inquiry. Several background assumptions are required for parsimony to connect with plausibility in a particular research problem.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template" style="margin-left:0.1em; white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Please_clarify" title="Wikipedia:Please clarify"><span title="This sentence is so vague/abstract that it seems to add very little to the discussion. For example, try dropping it, there doesn't seem to be much lost. (February 2021)">clarification needed</span></a></i>]</sup> The reasonableness of parsimony in one research context may have nothing to do with its reasonableness in another. It is a mistake to think that there is a single global principle that spans diverse subject matter.<sup id="cite_ref-fn_(114)_55-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-fn_(114)-55"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>55<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>It has been suggested that Occam's razor is a widely accepted example of extraevidential consideration, even though it is entirely a metaphysical assumption. Most of the time, however, Occam's razor is a conservative tool, cutting out "crazy, complicated constructions" and assuring "that hypotheses are grounded in the science of the day", thus yielding "normal" science: models of explanation and prediction.<sup id="cite_ref-fn_(101)_6-4" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-fn_(101)-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>6<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> There are, however, notable exceptions where Occam's razor turns a conservative scientist into a reluctant revolutionary. For example, <a href="/wiki/Max_Planck" title="Max Planck">Max Planck</a> interpolated between the <a href="/wiki/Wien_approximation" title="Wien approximation">Wien</a> and <a href="/wiki/Rayleigh%E2%80%93Jeans_law" title="Rayleigh–Jeans law">Jeans</a> radiation laws and used Occam's razor logic to formulate the quantum hypothesis, even resisting that hypothesis as it became more obvious that it was correct.<sup id="cite_ref-fn_(101)_6-5" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-fn_(101)-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>6<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>Appeals to simplicity were used to argue against the phenomena of meteorites, <a href="/wiki/Ball_lightning" title="Ball lightning">ball lightning</a>, <a href="/wiki/Continental_drift" title="Continental drift">continental drift</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Reverse_transcriptase" title="Reverse transcriptase">reverse transcriptase</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-56" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-56"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>56<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> One can argue for atomic building blocks for matter, because it provides a simpler explanation for the observed reversibility of both <span class="cleanup-needed-content" style="padding-left:0.1em; padding-right:0.1em; color:var(--color-subtle, #54595d); border:1px solid var(--border-color-subtle, #c8ccd1);">mixing</span><sup class="noprint Inline-Template" style="margin-left:0.1em; white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Please_clarify" title="Wikipedia:Please clarify"><span title="Mixing of what? (February 2021)">clarification needed</span></a></i>]</sup> and chemical reactions as simple separation and rearrangements of atomic building blocks. At the time, however, the <a href="/wiki/Atomic_theory" class="mw-redirect" title="Atomic theory">atomic theory</a> was considered more complex because it implied the existence of invisible particles that had not been directly detected. <a href="/wiki/Ernst_Mach" title="Ernst Mach">Ernst Mach</a> and the logical positivists rejected <a href="/wiki/John_Dalton" title="John Dalton">John Dalton</a>'s <a href="/wiki/Atomic_theory" class="mw-redirect" title="Atomic theory">atomic theory</a> until the reality of atoms was more evident in <a href="/wiki/Brownian_motion" title="Brownian motion">Brownian motion</a>, as shown by <a href="/wiki/Albert_Einstein" title="Albert Einstein">Albert Einstein</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-Pojman2009_57-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Pojman2009-57"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>57<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>In the same way, postulating the <a href="/wiki/Luminiferous_aether" title="Luminiferous aether">aether</a> is more complex than transmission of light through a <a href="/wiki/Vacuum" title="Vacuum">vacuum</a>. At the time, however, all known waves propagated through a physical medium, and it seemed simpler to postulate the existence of a medium than to theorize about wave propagation without a medium. Likewise, <a href="/wiki/Isaac_Newton" title="Isaac Newton">Isaac Newton</a>'s idea of light particles seemed simpler than <a href="/wiki/Christiaan_Huygens" title="Christiaan Huygens">Christiaan Huygens</a>'s idea of waves, so many favored it. In this case, as it turned out, neither the wave—nor the particle—explanation alone suffices, as <a href="/wiki/Wave%E2%80%93particle_duality" title="Wave–particle duality">light behaves like waves and like particles</a>. </p><p>Three axioms presupposed by the scientific method are realism (the existence of objective reality), the existence of natural laws, and the constancy of natural law. Rather than depend on provability of these axioms, science depends on the fact that they have not been objectively falsified. Occam's razor and parsimony support, but do not prove, these axioms of science. The general principle of science is that theories (or models) of natural law must be consistent with repeatable experimental observations. This ultimate arbiter (selection criterion) rests upon the axioms mentioned above.<sup id="cite_ref-fn_(110)_54-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-fn_(110)-54"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>54<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>If multiple models of natural law make exactly the same testable predictions, they are equivalent and there is no need for parsimony to choose a preferred one. For example, <a href="/wiki/Newtonian_mechanics" class="mw-redirect" title="Newtonian mechanics">Newtonian</a>, <a href="/wiki/Hamiltonian_mechanics" title="Hamiltonian mechanics">Hamiltonian</a> and <a href="/wiki/Lagrangian_mechanics" title="Lagrangian mechanics">Lagrangian</a> classical mechanics are equivalent. Physicists have no interest in using Occam's razor to say the other two are wrong. Likewise, there is no demand for simplicity principles to arbitrate between wave and matrix formulations of quantum mechanics. Science often does not demand arbitration or selection criteria between models that make the same testable predictions.<sup id="cite_ref-fn_(110)_54-4" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-fn_(110)-54"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>54<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Biology">Biology</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Occam%27s_razor&action=edit&section=18" title="Edit section: Biology"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1251242444" /><table class="box-Citation_style plainlinks metadata ambox ambox-style ambox-citation_style" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><div class="mbox-image-div"><span typeof="mw:File"><span><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f2/Edit-clear.svg/40px-Edit-clear.svg.png" decoding="async" width="40" height="40" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f2/Edit-clear.svg/60px-Edit-clear.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f2/Edit-clear.svg/80px-Edit-clear.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="48" data-file-height="48" /></span></span></div></td><td class="mbox-text"><div class="mbox-text-span">This section <b>has an unclear <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources#Citation_style" title="Wikipedia:Citing sources">citation style</a></b>.<span class="hide-when-compact"> The references used may be made clearer with a different or consistent style of <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources" title="Wikipedia:Citing sources">citation</a> and <a href="/wiki/Help:Footnotes" title="Help:Footnotes">footnoting</a>.</span> <span class="date-container"><i>(<span class="date">January 2023</span>)</i></span><span class="hide-when-compact"><i> (<small><a href="/wiki/Help:Maintenance_template_removal" title="Help:Maintenance template removal">Learn how and when to remove this message</a></small>)</i></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table> <p>Biologists or philosophers of biology use Occam's razor in either of two contexts both in <a href="/wiki/Evolution" title="Evolution">evolutionary biology</a>: the units of selection controversy and <a href="/wiki/Systematics" title="Systematics">systematics</a>. <a href="/wiki/George_C._Williams_(biologist)" class="mw-redirect" title="George C. Williams (biologist)">George C. Williams</a> in his book <i><a href="/wiki/Adaptation_and_Natural_Selection" title="Adaptation and Natural Selection">Adaptation and Natural Selection</a></i> (1966) argues that the best way to explain <a href="/wiki/Altruism" title="Altruism">altruism</a> among animals is based on low-level (i.e., individual) selection as opposed to high-level group selection. Altruism is defined by some evolutionary biologists (e.g., R. Alexander, 1987; W. D. Hamilton, 1964) as behavior that is beneficial to others (or to the group) at a cost to the individual, and many posit individual selection as the mechanism that explains altruism solely in terms of the behaviors of individual organisms acting in their own self-interest (or in the interest of their genes, via kin selection). Williams was arguing against the perspective of others who propose selection at the level of the group as an evolutionary mechanism that selects for altruistic traits (e.g., D. S. Wilson & E. O. Wilson, 2007). The basis for Williams's contention is that of the two, individual selection is the more parsimonious theory. In doing so he is invoking a variant of Occam's razor known as <a href="/wiki/Morgan%27s_Canon" title="Morgan's Canon">Morgan's Canon</a>: "In no case is an animal activity to be interpreted in terms of higher psychological processes, if it can be fairly interpreted in terms of processes which stand lower in the scale of psychological evolution and development." (Morgan 1903). </p><p>However, more recent biological analyses, such as <a href="/wiki/Richard_Dawkins" title="Richard Dawkins">Richard Dawkins</a>'s <i><a href="/wiki/The_Selfish_Gene" title="The Selfish Gene">The Selfish Gene</a></i>, have contended that Morgan's Canon is not the simplest and most basic explanation. Dawkins argues the way evolution works is that the genes propagated in most copies end up determining the development of that particular species, i.e., natural selection turns out to select specific genes, and this is really the fundamental underlying principle that automatically gives individual and group selection as <a href="/wiki/Emergent_evolution" title="Emergent evolution">emergent</a> features of evolution. </p><p><a href="/wiki/Zoology" title="Zoology">Zoology</a> provides an example. <a href="/wiki/Muskox" title="Muskox">Muskoxen</a>, when threatened by <a href="/wiki/Gray_wolf" class="mw-redirect" title="Gray wolf">wolves</a>, form a circle with the males on the outside and the females and young on the inside. This is an example of a behavior by the males that seems to be altruistic. The behavior is disadvantageous to them individually but beneficial to the group as a whole; thus, it was seen by some to support the group selection theory. Another interpretation is kin selection: if the males are protecting their offspring, they are protecting copies of their own alleles. Engaging in this behavior would be favored by individual selection if the cost to the male musk ox is less than half of the benefit received by his calf – which could easily be the case if wolves have an easier time killing calves than adult males. It could also be the case that male musk oxen would be individually less likely to be killed by wolves if they stood in a circle with their horns pointing out, regardless of whether they were protecting the females and offspring. That would be an example of regular natural selection – a phenomenon called "the selfish herd". </p><p><a href="/wiki/Systematics" title="Systematics">Systematics</a> is the branch of <a href="/wiki/Biology" title="Biology">biology</a> that attempts to establish patterns of relationship among biological taxa, today generally thought to reflect evolutionary history. It is also concerned with their classification. There are three primary camps in systematics: cladists, pheneticists, and evolutionary taxonomists. Cladists hold that classification should be based on <a href="/wiki/Synapomorphies" class="mw-redirect" title="Synapomorphies">synapomorphies</a> (shared, derived character states), pheneticists contend that overall similarity (synapomorphies and complementary <a href="/wiki/Symplesiomorphies" class="mw-redirect" title="Symplesiomorphies">symplesiomorphies</a>) is the determining criterion, while evolutionary taxonomists say that both genealogy and similarity count in classification (in a manner determined by the evolutionary taxonomist).<sup id="cite_ref-58" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-58"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>58<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-59" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-59"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>59<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>It is among the cladists that Occam's razor is applied, through the method of <i>cladistic parsimony</i>. Cladistic parsimony (or <a href="/wiki/Maximum_parsimony" class="mw-redirect" title="Maximum parsimony">maximum parsimony</a>) is a method of phylogenetic inference that yields <a href="/wiki/Phylogenetic_tree" title="Phylogenetic tree">phylogenetic trees</a> (more specifically, cladograms). <a href="/wiki/Cladistics" title="Cladistics">Cladograms</a> are branching, diagrams used to represent hypotheses of relative degree of relationship, based on <a href="/wiki/Synapomorphies" class="mw-redirect" title="Synapomorphies">synapomorphies</a>. Cladistic parsimony is used to select as the preferred hypothesis of relationships the cladogram that requires the fewest implied character state transformations (or smallest weight, if characters are differentially weighted). Critics of the cladistic approach often observe that for some types of data, parsimony could produce the wrong results, regardless of how much data is collected (this is called statistical inconsistency, or <a href="/wiki/Long_branch_attraction" title="Long branch attraction">long branch attraction</a>). However, this criticism is also potentially true for any type of phylogenetic inference, unless the model used to estimate the tree reflects the way that evolution actually happened. Because this information is not empirically accessible, the criticism of statistical inconsistency against parsimony holds no force.<sup id="cite_ref-60" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-60"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>60<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> For a book-length treatment of cladistic parsimony, see <a href="/wiki/Elliott_Sober" title="Elliott Sober">Elliott Sober</a>'s <i>Reconstructing the Past: Parsimony, Evolution, and Inference</i> (1988). For a discussion of both uses of Occam's razor in biology, see Sober's article "Let's Razor Ockham's Razor" (1990). </p><p>Other methods for inferring evolutionary relationships use parsimony in a more general way. <a href="/wiki/Likelihood_function" title="Likelihood function">Likelihood</a> methods for phylogeny use parsimony as they do for all likelihood tests, with hypotheses requiring fewer differing parameters (i.e., numbers or different rates of character change or different frequencies of character state transitions) being treated as null hypotheses relative to hypotheses requiring more differing parameters. Thus, complex hypotheses must predict data much better than do simple hypotheses before researchers reject the simple hypotheses. Recent advances employ <a href="/wiki/Information_theory" title="Information theory">information theory</a>, a close cousin of likelihood, which uses Occam's razor in the same way. The choice of the "shortest tree" relative to a not-so-short tree under any optimality criterion (smallest distance, fewest steps, or maximum likelihood) is always based on parsimony.<sup id="cite_ref-61" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-61"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>61<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p><a href="/wiki/Francis_Crick" title="Francis Crick">Francis Crick</a> has commented on potential limitations of Occam's razor in biology. He advances the argument that because biological systems are the products of (an ongoing) natural selection, the mechanisms are not necessarily optimal in an obvious sense. He cautions: "While Ockham's razor is a useful tool in the physical sciences, it can be a very dangerous implement in biology. It is thus very rash to use simplicity and elegance as a guide in biological research."<sup id="cite_ref-62" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-62"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>62<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> This is an ontological critique of parsimony. </p><p>In <a href="/wiki/Biogeography" title="Biogeography">biogeography</a>, parsimony is used to infer ancient vicariant events or <a href="/wiki/Historical_migration" class="mw-redirect" title="Historical migration">migrations</a> of <a href="/wiki/Species" title="Species">species</a> or <a href="/wiki/Population" title="Population">populations</a> by observing the geographic distribution and relationships of existing <a href="/wiki/Organism" title="Organism">organisms</a>. Given the phylogenetic tree, ancestral population subdivisions are inferred to be those that require the minimum amount of change.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (March 2024)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Religion">Religion</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Occam%27s_razor&action=edit&section=19" title="Edit section: Religion"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951" /><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/wiki/Existence_of_God" title="Existence of God">Existence of God</a></div> <p>In the <a href="/wiki/Philosophy_of_religion" title="Philosophy of religion">philosophy of religion</a>, Occam's razor is sometimes applied to the existence of God. William of Ockham himself was a <a href="/wiki/Christianity" title="Christianity">Christian</a>. He believed in God, and in the <a href="/wiki/Biblical_authority" title="Biblical authority">authority</a> of <a href="/wiki/Christian_scripture" class="mw-redirect" title="Christian scripture">Christian scripture</a>; he writes that "nothing ought to be posited without a reason given, unless it is self-evident (literally, known through itself) or known by experience or proved by the authority of Sacred Scripture."<sup id="cite_ref-63" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-63"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>63<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Ockham believed that an explanation has no sufficient basis in reality when it does not harmonize with reason, experience, or the <a href="/wiki/Christian_Bible" class="mw-redirect" title="Christian Bible">Bible</a>. Unlike many theologians of his time, though, Ockham did not believe God could be logically proven with arguments. To Ockham, science was a matter of discovery; <a href="/wiki/Theology" title="Theology">theology</a> was a matter of <a href="/wiki/Revelation" title="Revelation">revelation</a> and <a href="/wiki/Faith" title="Faith">faith</a>. He states: "Only faith gives us access to theological truths. The ways of God are not open to reason, for God has freely chosen to create a world and establish a way of salvation within it apart from any necessary laws that human logic or rationality can uncover."<sup id="cite_ref-64" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-64"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>64<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p><a href="/wiki/Thomas_Aquinas" title="Thomas Aquinas">Thomas Aquinas</a>, in the <i><a href="/wiki/Summa_Theologica" title="Summa Theologica">Summa Theologica</a></i>, uses a formulation of Occam's razor to construct an objection to the idea that God exists, which he refutes directly with a counterargument:<sup id="cite_ref-65" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-65"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>65<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <blockquote><p>Further, it is superfluous to suppose that what can be accounted for by a few principles has been produced by many. But it seems that everything we see in the world can be accounted for by other principles, supposing God did not exist. For all natural things can be reduced to one principle which is nature; and all voluntary things can be reduced to one principle which is human reason, or will. Therefore there is no need to suppose God's existence.</p></blockquote> <p>In turn, Aquinas answers this with the <i><a href="/wiki/Quinque_viae" class="mw-redirect" title="Quinque viae">quinque viae</a></i>, and addresses the particular objection above with the following answer: </p> <blockquote><p>Since nature works for a determinate end under the direction of a higher agent, whatever is done by nature must needs be traced back to God, as to its first cause. So also whatever is done voluntarily must also be traced back to some higher cause other than human reason or will, since these can change or fail; for all things that are changeable and capable of defect must be traced back to an immovable and self-necessary first principle, as was shown in the body of the Article.</p></blockquote> <p>Rather than argue for the necessity of a god, some <a href="/wiki/Theism" title="Theism">theists</a> base their belief upon grounds independent of, or prior to, reason, making Occam's razor irrelevant. This was the stance of <a href="/wiki/S%C3%B8ren_Kierkegaard" title="Søren Kierkegaard">Søren Kierkegaard</a>, who viewed belief in God as a <a href="/wiki/Leap_of_faith" title="Leap of faith">leap of faith</a> that sometimes directly opposed reason.<sup id="cite_ref-66" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-66"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>66<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> This is also the doctrine of <a href="/wiki/Gordon_Clark" title="Gordon Clark">Gordon Clark</a>'s <a href="/wiki/Presuppositional_apologetics" title="Presuppositional apologetics">presuppositional apologetics</a>, with the exception that Clark never thought the leap of faith was contrary to reason (see also <a href="/wiki/Fideism" title="Fideism">Fideism</a>). </p><p>Various <a href="/wiki/Arguments_for_the_existence_of_God" class="mw-redirect" title="Arguments for the existence of God">arguments in favor of God</a> establish God as a useful or even necessary assumption. Contrastingly some anti-theists hold firmly to the belief that assuming the existence of God introduces unnecessary complexity (e.g., the <a href="/wiki/Ultimate_Boeing_747_gambit" title="Ultimate Boeing 747 gambit">Ultimate Boeing 747 gambit</a> from Dawkins's <i><a href="/wiki/The_God_Delusion" title="The God Delusion">The God Delusion</a></i><sup id="cite_ref-67" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-67"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>67<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>).<sup id="cite_ref-68" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-68"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>68<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>Another application of the principle is to be found in the work of <a href="/wiki/George_Berkeley" title="George Berkeley">George Berkeley</a> (1685–1753). Berkeley was an idealist who believed that all of reality could be explained in terms of the mind alone. He invoked Occam's razor against <a href="/wiki/Materialism" title="Materialism">materialism</a>, stating that matter was not required by his metaphysics and was thus eliminable. One potential problem with this belief<sup class="noprint Inline-Template" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:WHATPLACE" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:WHATPLACE"><span title="The material in the vicinity of this tag may not adequately specify for whom something is attributed. (February 2021)">for whom?</span></a></i>]</sup> is that it's possible, given Berkeley's position, to find <a href="/wiki/Solipsism" title="Solipsism">solipsism</a> itself more in line with the razor than a God-mediated world beyond a single thinker. </p><p>Occam's razor may also be recognized in the apocryphal story about an exchange between <a href="/wiki/Pierre-Simon_Laplace" title="Pierre-Simon Laplace">Pierre-Simon Laplace</a> and <a href="/wiki/Napoleon" title="Napoleon">Napoleon</a>. It is said that in praising Laplace for one of his recent publications, the emperor asked how it was that the name of God, which featured so frequently in the writings of <a href="/wiki/Lagrange" class="mw-redirect" title="Lagrange">Lagrange</a>, appeared nowhere in Laplace's. At that, he is said to have replied, "It's because I had no need of that hypothesis."<sup id="cite_ref-69" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-69"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>69<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Though some points of this story illustrate Laplace's <a href="/wiki/Atheism" title="Atheism">atheism</a>, more careful consideration suggests that he may instead have intended merely to illustrate the power of <a href="/wiki/Methodological_naturalism" class="mw-redirect" title="Methodological naturalism">methodological naturalism</a>, or even simply that the fewer <a href="/wiki/Premise" title="Premise">logical premises</a> one assumes, the <a href="/wiki/List_of_mathematical_jargon#strong" class="mw-redirect" title="List of mathematical jargon">stronger</a> is one's conclusion. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Philosophy_of_mind">Philosophy of mind</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Occam%27s_razor&action=edit&section=20" title="Edit section: Philosophy of mind"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>In his article "Sensations and Brain Processes" (1959), <a href="/wiki/J._J._C._Smart" title="J. J. C. Smart">J. J. C. Smart</a> invoked Occam's razor with the aim to justify his preference of the <a href="/wiki/Mind-brain_identity_theory" class="mw-redirect" title="Mind-brain identity theory">mind-brain identity theory</a> over <a href="/wiki/Mind-body_dualism" class="mw-redirect" title="Mind-body dualism">spirit-body dualism</a>. Dualists state that there are two kinds of substances in the universe: physical (including the body) and spiritual, which is non-physical. In contrast, identity theorists state that everything is physical, including consciousness, and that there is nothing nonphysical. Though it is impossible to appreciate the spiritual when limiting oneself to the physical,<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (November 2020)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup> Smart maintained that identity theory explains all phenomena by assuming only a physical reality. Subsequently, Smart has been severely criticized for his use (or misuse) of Occam's razor and ultimately retracted his advocacy of it in this context. <a href="/wiki/Paul_Churchland" title="Paul Churchland">Paul Churchland</a> (1984) states that by itself Occam's razor is inconclusive regarding duality. In a similar way, Dale Jacquette (1994) stated that Occam's razor has been used in attempts to justify eliminativism and reductionism in the philosophy of mind. Eliminativism is the thesis that the ontology of <a href="/wiki/Folk_psychology" title="Folk psychology">folk psychology</a> including such entities as "pain", "joy", "desire", "fear", etc., are eliminable in favor of an ontology of a completed neuroscience. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Penal_ethics">Penal ethics</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Occam%27s_razor&action=edit&section=21" title="Edit section: Penal ethics"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>In penal theory and the philosophy of punishment, parsimony refers specifically to taking care in the distribution of <a href="/wiki/Punishment" title="Punishment">punishment</a> in order to avoid excessive punishment. In the <a href="/wiki/Utilitarianism" title="Utilitarianism">utilitarian</a> approach to the philosophy of punishment, <a href="/wiki/Jeremy_Bentham" title="Jeremy Bentham">Jeremy Bentham</a>'s "parsimony principle" states that any punishment greater than is required to achieve its end is unjust. The concept is related but not identical to the legal concept of <a href="/wiki/Proportionality_(law)" title="Proportionality (law)">proportionality</a>. Parsimony is a key consideration of the modern <a href="/wiki/Restorative_justice" title="Restorative justice">restorative justice</a>, and is a component of utilitarian approaches to punishment, as well as the <a href="/wiki/Prison_abolition_movement" class="mw-redirect" title="Prison abolition movement">prison abolition movement</a>. Bentham believed that true parsimony would require punishment to be individualised to take account of the <a href="/wiki/Sensibility" title="Sensibility">sensibility</a> of the individual—an individual more sensitive to punishment should be given a proportionately lesser one, since otherwise needless pain would be inflicted. Later utilitarian writers have tended to abandon this idea, in large part due to the impracticality of determining each alleged criminal's relative sensitivity to specific punishments.<sup id="cite_ref-70" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-70"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>70<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Probability_theory_and_statistics">Probability theory and statistics</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Occam%27s_razor&action=edit&section=22" title="Edit section: Probability theory and statistics"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Marcus Hutter's universal artificial intelligence builds upon <a href="/wiki/Solomonoff%27s_theory_of_inductive_inference" title="Solomonoff's theory of inductive inference">Solomonoff's mathematical formalization of the razor</a> to calculate the expected value of an action. </p><p>There are various papers in scholarly journals deriving formal versions of Occam's razor from probability theory, applying it in <a href="/wiki/Statistical_inference" title="Statistical inference">statistical inference</a>, and using it to come up with criteria for penalizing complexity in statistical inference. Papers<sup id="cite_ref-ReferenceC_71-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-ReferenceC-71"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>71<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-auto_72-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-auto-72"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>72<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> have suggested a connection between Occam's razor and <a href="/wiki/Kolmogorov_complexity" title="Kolmogorov complexity">Kolmogorov complexity</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-Volker_73-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Volker-73"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>73<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>One of the problems with the original formulation of the razor is that it only applies to models with the same explanatory power (i.e., it only tells us to prefer the simplest of equally good models). A more general form of the razor can be derived from Bayesian model comparison, which is based on <a href="/wiki/Bayes_factor" title="Bayes factor">Bayes factors</a> and can be used to compare models that do not fit the observations equally well. These methods can sometimes optimally balance the complexity and power of a model. Generally, the exact Occam factor is intractable, but approximations such as <a href="/wiki/Akaike_information_criterion" title="Akaike information criterion">Akaike information criterion</a>, <a href="/wiki/Bayesian_information_criterion" title="Bayesian information criterion">Bayesian information criterion</a>, <a href="/wiki/Variational_Bayesian_methods" title="Variational Bayesian methods">Variational Bayesian methods</a>, <a href="/wiki/False_discovery_rate" title="False discovery rate">false discovery rate</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Laplace%27s_method" title="Laplace's method">Laplace's method</a> are used. Many <a href="/wiki/Artificial_intelligence" title="Artificial intelligence">artificial intelligence</a> researchers are now employing such techniques, for instance through work on <a href="/wiki/Occam_Learning" class="mw-redirect" title="Occam Learning">Occam Learning</a> or more generally on the <a href="/wiki/Free_energy_principle" title="Free energy principle">Free energy principle</a>. </p><p>Statistical versions of Occam's razor have a more rigorous formulation than what philosophical discussions produce. In particular, they must have a specific definition of the term <i>simplicity</i>, and that definition can vary. For example, in the <a href="/wiki/Andrey_Kolmogorov" title="Andrey Kolmogorov">Kolmogorov</a>–<a href="/wiki/Gregory_Chaitin" title="Gregory Chaitin">Chaitin</a> <a href="/wiki/Minimum_description_length" title="Minimum description length">minimum description length</a> approach, the subject must pick a <a href="/wiki/Turing_machine" title="Turing machine">Turing machine</a> whose operations describe the basic operations <i>believed</i> to represent "simplicity" by the subject. However, one could always choose a Turing machine with a simple operation that happened to construct one's entire theory and would hence score highly under the razor. This has led to two opposing camps: one that believes Occam's razor is objective, and one that believes it is subjective. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="Objective_razor">Objective razor</h4><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Occam%27s_razor&action=edit&section=23" title="Edit section: Objective razor"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>The minimum instruction set of a <a href="/wiki/Universal_Turing_machine" title="Universal Turing machine">universal Turing machine</a> requires approximately the same length description across different formulations, and is small compared to the <a href="/wiki/Kolmogorov_complexity" title="Kolmogorov complexity">Kolmogorov complexity</a> of most practical theories. <a href="/wiki/Marcus_Hutter" title="Marcus Hutter">Marcus Hutter</a> has used this consistency to define a "natural" Turing machine of small size as the proper basis for excluding arbitrarily complex instruction sets in the formulation of razors.<sup id="cite_ref-74" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-74"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>74<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Describing the program for the universal program as the "hypothesis", and the representation of the evidence as program data, it has been formally proven under <a href="/wiki/Zermelo%E2%80%93Fraenkel_set_theory" title="Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory">Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory</a> that "the sum of the log universal probability of the model plus the log of the probability of the data given the model should be minimized."<sup id="cite_ref-75" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-75"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>75<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Interpreting this as minimising the total length of a two-part message encoding model followed by data given model gives us the <a href="/wiki/Minimum_message_length" title="Minimum message length">minimum message length</a> (MML) principle.<sup id="cite_ref-ReferenceC_71-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-ReferenceC-71"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>71<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-auto_72-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-auto-72"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>72<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>One possible conclusion from mixing the concepts of Kolmogorov complexity and Occam's razor is that an ideal data compressor would also be a scientific explanation/formulation generator. Some attempts have been made to re-derive known laws from considerations of simplicity or compressibility.<sup id="cite_ref-ReferenceB_24-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-ReferenceB-24"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>24<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-76" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-76"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>76<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>According to <a href="/wiki/J%C3%BCrgen_Schmidhuber" title="Jürgen Schmidhuber">Jürgen Schmidhuber</a>, the appropriate mathematical theory of Occam's razor already exists, namely, <a href="/wiki/Ray_Solomonoff" title="Ray Solomonoff">Solomonoff's</a> <a href="/wiki/Solomonoff%27s_theory_of_inductive_inference" title="Solomonoff's theory of inductive inference">theory of optimal inductive inference</a><sup id="cite_ref-77" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-77"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>77<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> and its extensions.<sup id="cite_ref-78" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-78"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>78<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> See discussions in David L. Dowe's "Foreword re C. S. Wallace"<sup id="cite_ref-79" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-79"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>79<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> for the subtle distinctions between the <a href="/wiki/Algorithmic_probability" title="Algorithmic probability">algorithmic probability</a> work of Solomonoff and the MML work of <a href="/wiki/Chris_Wallace_(computer_scientist)" title="Chris Wallace (computer scientist)">Chris Wallace</a>, and see Dowe's "MML, hybrid Bayesian network graphical models, statistical consistency, invariance and uniqueness"<sup id="cite_ref-80" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-80"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>80<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> both for such discussions and for (in section 4) discussions of MML and Occam's razor. For a specific example of MML as Occam's razor in the problem of decision tree induction, see Dowe and Needham's "Message Length as an Effective Ockham's Razor in Decision Tree Induction".<sup id="cite_ref-81" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-81"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>81<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="Mathematical_arguments_against_Occam's_razor"><span id="Mathematical_arguments_against_Occam.27s_razor"></span>Mathematical arguments against Occam's razor</h4><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Occam%27s_razor&action=edit&section=24" title="Edit section: Mathematical arguments against Occam's razor"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1251242444" /><table class="box-Technical plainlinks metadata ambox ambox-style ambox-technical" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><div class="mbox-image-div"><span typeof="mw:File"><span><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f2/Edit-clear.svg/40px-Edit-clear.svg.png" decoding="async" width="40" height="40" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f2/Edit-clear.svg/60px-Edit-clear.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f2/Edit-clear.svg/80px-Edit-clear.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="48" data-file-height="48" /></span></span></div></td><td class="mbox-text"><div class="mbox-text-span">This section <b>may be too technical for most readers to understand</b>.<span class="hide-when-compact"> Please <a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Occam%27s_razor&action=edit">help improve it</a> to <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Make_technical_articles_understandable" title="Wikipedia:Make technical articles understandable">make it understandable to non-experts</a>, without removing the technical details.</span> <span class="date-container"><i>(<span class="date">February 2024</span>)</i></span><span class="hide-when-compact"><i> (<small><a href="/wiki/Help:Maintenance_template_removal" title="Help:Maintenance template removal">Learn how and when to remove this message</a></small>)</i></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table> <p>The <a href="/wiki/No_free_lunch_theorem" title="No free lunch theorem">no free lunch</a> (NFL) theorems for inductive inference prove that Occam's razor must rely on ultimately arbitrary assumptions concerning the prior probability distribution found in our world.<sup id="cite_ref-Adam2019_82-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Adam2019-82"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>82<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Specifically, suppose one is given two inductive inference algorithms, A and B, where A is a <a href="/wiki/Bayesian_inference" title="Bayesian inference">Bayesian</a> procedure based on the choice of some prior distribution motivated by Occam's razor (e.g., the prior might favor hypotheses with smaller <a href="/wiki/Kolmogorov_complexity" title="Kolmogorov complexity">Kolmogorov complexity</a>). Suppose that B is the anti-Bayes procedure, which calculates what the Bayesian algorithm A based on Occam's razor will predict – and then predicts the exact opposite. Then there are just as many actual priors (including those different from the Occam's razor prior assumed by A) in which algorithm B outperforms A as priors in which the procedure A based on Occam's razor comes out on top. In particular, the NFL theorems show that the "Occam factors" Bayesian argument for Occam's razor must make ultimately arbitrary modeling assumptions.<sup id="cite_ref-WOLP95_83-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-WOLP95-83"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>83<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Software_development">Software development</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Occam%27s_razor&action=edit&section=25" title="Edit section: Software development"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>In software development, the <a href="/wiki/Rule_of_least_power" title="Rule of least power">rule of least power</a> argues the correct <a href="/wiki/Programming_language" title="Programming language">programming language</a> to use is the one that is simplest while also solving the targeted software problem. In that form the rule is often credited to <a href="/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee" title="Tim Berners-Lee">Tim Berners-Lee</a> since it appeared in his design guidelines for the original <a href="/wiki/Hypertext_Transfer_Protocol" class="mw-redirect" title="Hypertext Transfer Protocol">Hypertext Transfer Protocol</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-84" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-84"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>84<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Complexity in this context is measured either by placing a language into the <a href="/wiki/Chomsky_hierarchy" title="Chomsky hierarchy">Chomsky hierarchy</a> or by listing idiomatic features of the language and comparing according to some agreed to scale of difficulties between idioms. Many languages once thought to be of lower complexity have evolved or later been discovered to be more complex than originally intended; so, in practice this rule is applied to the relative ease of a programmer to obtain the power of the language, rather than the precise theoretical limits of the language. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Artificial_Intelligence">Artificial Intelligence</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Occam%27s_razor&action=edit&section=26" title="Edit section: Artificial Intelligence"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Scientists have discovered that <a href="/wiki/Deep_neural_networks" class="mw-redirect" title="Deep neural networks">Deep Neural Networks</a> (DNN) prefer simpler mathematical functions while learning. This simplicity bias enables DNNs to overcome <a href="/wiki/Overfitting" title="Overfitting">overfitting</a> - a scenario where the model gets overwhelmed with noise due to the presence of too many parameters.<sup id="cite_ref-85" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-85"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>85<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Controversial_aspects">Controversial aspects</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Occam%27s_razor&action=edit&section=27" title="Edit section: Controversial aspects"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Occam's razor is not an embargo against the positing of any kind of entity, or a recommendation of the simplest theory come what may.<sup id="cite_ref-87" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-87"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>a<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Occam's razor is used to adjudicate between theories that have already passed "theoretical scrutiny" tests and are equally well-supported by evidence.<sup id="cite_ref-88" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-88"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>b<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Furthermore, it may be used to prioritize empirical testing between two equally plausible but unequally testable hypotheses; thereby minimizing costs and wastes while increasing chances of falsification of the simpler-to-test hypothesis.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (November 2021)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup> </p><p>Another contentious aspect of the razor is that a theory can become more complex in terms of its structure (or <a href="/wiki/Syntax" title="Syntax">syntax</a>), while its <a href="/wiki/Ontology" title="Ontology">ontology</a> (or <a href="/wiki/Semantics" title="Semantics">semantics</a>) becomes simpler, or vice versa.<sup id="cite_ref-89" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-89"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>c<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Quine, in a discussion on definition, referred to these two perspectives as "economy of practical expression" and "economy in grammar and vocabulary", respectively.<sup id="cite_ref-90" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-90"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>87<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p><a href="/wiki/Galileo_Galilei" title="Galileo Galilei">Galileo Galilei</a> lampooned the <i>misuse</i> of Occam's razor in his <i><a href="/wiki/Dialogue_Concerning_the_Two_Chief_World_Systems" title="Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems">Dialogue</a></i>. The principle is represented in the dialogue by Simplicio. The telling point that Galileo presented ironically was that if one really wanted to start from a small number of entities, one could always consider the letters of the alphabet as the fundamental entities, since one could construct the whole of human knowledge out of them. </p><p>Instances of using Occam's razor to justify belief in less complex and more simple theories have been criticized as using the razor inappropriately. For instance <a href="/wiki/Francis_Crick" title="Francis Crick">Francis Crick</a> stated that "While Occam's razor is a useful tool in the physical sciences, it can be a very dangerous implement in biology. It is thus very rash to use simplicity and elegance as a guide in biological research."<sup id="cite_ref-91" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-91"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>88<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Anti-razors">Anti-razors</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Occam%27s_razor&action=edit&section=28" title="Edit section: Anti-razors"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Occam's razor has met some opposition from people who consider it too extreme or rash. <a href="/wiki/Walter_Chatton" title="Walter Chatton">Walter Chatton</a> (<abbr title="circa">c.</abbr><span style="white-space:nowrap;"> 1290–1343</span>) was a contemporary of William of Ockham who took exception to Occam's razor and Ockham's use of it. In response he devised his own <i>anti-razor</i>: "If three things are not enough to verify an affirmative proposition about things, a fourth must be added and so on." Although there have been several philosophers who have formulated similar anti-razors since Chatton's time, no one anti-razor has perpetuated as notably as Chatton's anti-razor, although this could be the case of the Late Renaissance Italian motto of unknown attribution <span title="Italian-language text"><i lang="it">Se non è vero, è ben trovato</i></span> ("Even if it is not true, it is well conceived") when referred to a particularly artful explanation. </p><p>Anti-razors have also been created by <a href="/wiki/Gottfried_Wilhelm_Leibniz" title="Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz">Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz</a> (1646–1716), <a href="/wiki/Immanuel_Kant" title="Immanuel Kant">Immanuel Kant</a> (1724–1804), and <a href="/wiki/Karl_Menger" title="Karl Menger">Karl Menger</a> (1902–1985). Leibniz's version took the form of a <a href="/wiki/Principle_of_plenitude" title="Principle of plenitude">principle of plenitude</a>, as <a href="/wiki/Arthur_Lovejoy" class="mw-redirect" title="Arthur Lovejoy">Arthur Lovejoy</a> has called it: the idea being that God created the most varied and populous of possible worlds. Kant felt a need to moderate the effects of Occam's razor and thus created his own counter-razor: "The variety of beings should not rashly be diminished."<sup id="cite_ref-92" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-92"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>89<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>Karl Menger found mathematicians to be too parsimonious with regard to variables so he formulated his Law Against Miserliness, which took one of two forms: "Entities must not be reduced to the point of inadequacy" and "It is vain to do with fewer what requires more." A less serious but even more extremist anti-razor is <a href="/wiki/%27Pataphysics" title="'Pataphysics">'Pataphysics</a>, the "science of imaginary solutions" developed by <a href="/wiki/Alfred_Jarry" title="Alfred Jarry">Alfred Jarry</a> (1873–1907). Perhaps the ultimate in anti-reductionism, "'Pataphysics seeks no less than to view each event in the universe as completely unique, subject to no laws but its own." Variations on this theme were subsequently explored by the Argentine writer <a href="/wiki/Jorge_Luis_Borges" title="Jorge Luis Borges">Jorge Luis Borges</a> in his story/mock-essay "<a href="/wiki/Tl%C3%B6n,_Uqbar,_Orbis_Tertius" title="Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius">Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius</a>". Physicist <a href="/wiki/Reginald_Victor_Jones" title="Reginald Victor Jones">R. V. Jones</a> contrived Crabtree's Bludgeon, which states that "[n]o set of mutually inconsistent observations can exist for which some human intellect cannot conceive a coherent explanation, however complicated."<sup id="cite_ref-Woo2011_93-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Woo2011-93"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>90<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>Recently, American physicist Igor Mazin argued that because high-profile physics journals prefer publications offering exotic and unusual interpretations, the Occam's razor principle is being replaced by an "Inverse Occam's razor", implying that the simplest possible explanation is usually rejected.<sup id="cite_ref-94" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-94"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>91<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Other">Other</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Occam%27s_razor&action=edit&section=29" title="Edit section: Other"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Since 2012<sup class="plainlinks noexcerpt noprint asof-tag update" style="display:none;"><a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Occam%27s_razor&action=edit">[update]</a></sup>, <i><a href="/wiki/The_Skeptic_(UK_magazine)" class="mw-redirect" title="The Skeptic (UK magazine)">The Skeptic</a></i> magazine annually awards the Ockham Awards, or simply the Ockhams, named after Occam's razor, at <a href="/wiki/QED_(conference)" title="QED (conference)">QED</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-Skepter_95-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Skepter-95"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>92<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The Ockhams were introduced by editor-in-chief <a href="/wiki/Deborah_Hyde" title="Deborah Hyde">Deborah Hyde</a> to "recognise the effort and time that have gone into the community's favourite skeptical blogs, skeptical podcasts, skeptical campaigns and outstanding contributors to the skeptical cause."<sup id="cite_ref-Ockham2012_96-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Ockham2012-96"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>93<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The <a href="/wiki/Trophy" title="Trophy">trophies</a>, designed by Neil Davies and Karl Derrick, carry the upper text "<i>Ockham's</i>" and the lower text "<i>The Skeptic. Shaving away unnecessary assumptions since 1285.</i>" Between the texts, there is an image of a double-edged <a href="/wiki/Safety_razor" title="Safety razor">safety razorblade</a>, and both lower corners feature an image of William of Ockham's face.<sup id="cite_ref-Ockham2012_96-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Ockham2012-96"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>93<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="See_also">See also</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Occam%27s_razor&action=edit&section=30" title="Edit section: See also"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1266661725">.mw-parser-output .portalbox{padding:0;margin:0.5em 0;display:table;box-sizing:border-box;max-width:175px;list-style:none}.mw-parser-output .portalborder{border:1px solid 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portal</a></span></li><li class="portalbox-entry"><span class="portalbox-image"><span class="noviewer" typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/File:Nuvola_apps_kalzium.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img alt="icon" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8b/Nuvola_apps_kalzium.svg/28px-Nuvola_apps_kalzium.svg.png" decoding="async" width="28" height="28" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8b/Nuvola_apps_kalzium.svg/42px-Nuvola_apps_kalzium.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8b/Nuvola_apps_kalzium.svg/56px-Nuvola_apps_kalzium.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="128" data-file-height="128" /></a></span></span><span class="portalbox-link"><a href="/wiki/Portal:Science" title="Portal:Science">Science portal</a></span></li></ul> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1184024115">.mw-parser-output .div-col{margin-top:0.3em;column-width:30em}.mw-parser-output .div-col-small{font-size:90%}.mw-parser-output .div-col-rules{column-rule:1px solid #aaa}.mw-parser-output .div-col dl,.mw-parser-output .div-col ol,.mw-parser-output .div-col ul{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .div-col li,.mw-parser-output .div-col dd{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}</style><div class="div-col" style="column-width: 30em;"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Chekhov%27s_gun" title="Chekhov's gun">Chekhov's gun</a> – Dramatic principle</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Duck_test" title="Duck test">Duck test</a> – Classification based on observable evidence</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Explanatory_power" title="Explanatory power">Explanatory power</a> – Ability of a theory to explain a subject</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Hanlon%27s_razor" title="Hanlon's razor">Hanlon's razor</a> – Adage to assume stupidity over malice</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Hickam%27s_dictum" title="Hickam's dictum">Hickam's dictum</a> – Medical principle that a patient's symptoms could be caused by several diseases</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Hitchens%27s_razor" title="Hitchens's razor">Hitchens's razor</a> – General rule rejecting claims made without evidence</li> <li><a href="/wiki/KISS_principle" title="KISS principle">KISS principle</a> – Design principle preferring simplicity</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Minimum_description_length" title="Minimum description length">Minimum description length</a> – Model selection principle</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Minimum_message_length" title="Minimum message length">Minimum message length</a> – Formal information theory restatement of Occam's Razor</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Newton%27s_flaming_laser_sword" class="mw-redirect" title="Newton's flaming laser sword">Newton's flaming laser sword</a> – Australian mathematician and philosopher<span style="display:none" class="category-annotation-with-redirected-description">Pages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets</span></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Philosophy_of_science" title="Philosophy of science">Philosophy of science</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Russell%27s_teapot" title="Russell's teapot">Russell's teapot</a> – Analogy devised by Bertrand Russell</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Simplicity" title="Simplicity">Simplicity</a> – State of being simple</li></ul> </div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Notes">Notes</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Occam%27s_razor&action=edit&section=31" title="Edit section: Notes"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239543626">.mw-parser-output .reflist{margin-bottom:0.5em;list-style-type:decimal}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .reflist{font-size:90%}}.mw-parser-output .reflist .references{font-size:100%;margin-bottom:0;list-style-type:inherit}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-2{column-width:30em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-3{column-width:25em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns{margin-top:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns ol{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns li{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-alpha{list-style-type:upper-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-roman{list-style-type:upper-roman}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-alpha{list-style-type:lower-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-greek{list-style-type:lower-greek}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-roman{list-style-type:lower-roman}</style><div class="reflist reflist-lower-alpha"> <div class="mw-references-wrap"><ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-87"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-87">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">"Ockham's razor does not say that the more simple a hypothesis, the better."<sup id="cite_ref-SkepticDict2012_86-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-SkepticDict2012-86"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>86<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-88"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-88">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">"Today, we think of the principle of parsimony as a heuristic device. We don't assume that the simpler theory is correct and the more complex one false. We know from experience that more often than not the theory that requires more complicated machinations is wrong. Until proved otherwise, the more complex theory competing with a simpler explanation should be put on the back burner, but not thrown onto the trash heap of history until proven false."<sup id="cite_ref-SkepticDict2012_86-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-SkepticDict2012-86"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>86<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-89"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-89">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">"While these two facets of simplicity are frequently conflated, it is important to treat them as distinct. One reason for doing so is that considerations of parsimony and of elegance typically pull in different directions. Postulating extra entities may allow a theory to be formulated more simply, while reducing the ontology of a theory may only be possible at the price of making it syntactically more complex."<sup id="cite_ref-fn_(109)_53-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-fn_(109)-53"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>53<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></span> </li> </ol></div></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Occam%27s_razor&action=edit&section=32" title="Edit section: References"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1239543626" /><div class="reflist"> <div class="mw-references-wrap mw-references-columns"><ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-1">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1238218222">.mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\"""\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free.id-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Lock-green.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited.id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration.id-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription.id-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg")right 0.1em center/12px no-repeat}body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background-size:contain;padding:0 1em 0 0}.mw-parser-output .cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:none;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#085;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right{padding-right:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .citation .mw-selflink{font-weight:inherit}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}</style><cite id="CITEREFBarry2014" class="citation web cs1">Barry, C. M. (27 May 2014). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.irishphilosophy.com/2014/05/27/who-sharpened-occams-razor">"Who sharpened Occam's Razor?"</a>. <i>Irish Philosophy</i>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20221005062453/https://www.irishphilosophy.com/2014/05/27/who-sharpened-occams-razor/">Archived</a> from the original on 5 October 2022<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">5 August</span> 2022</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=Irish+Philosophy&rft.atitle=Who+sharpened+Occam%27s+Razor%3F&rft.date=2014-05-27&rft.aulast=Barry&rft.aufirst=C.+M.&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishphilosophy.com%2F2014%2F05%2F27%2Fwho-sharpened-occams-razor&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-2">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFSchaffer2015" class="citation journal cs1">Schaffer, Jonathan (2015). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.jonathanschaffer.org/laser.pdf">"What Not to Multiply Without Necessity"</a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span>. <i>Australasian Journal of Philosophy</i>. <b>93</b> (4): <span class="nowrap">644–</span>664. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1080%2F00048402.2014.992447">10.1080/00048402.2014.992447</a>. <a href="/wiki/S2CID_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="S2CID (identifier)">S2CID</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:16923735">16923735</a>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200909103500/http://www.jonathanschaffer.org/laser.pdf">Archived</a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span> from the original on 9 September 2020<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">8 August</span> 2019</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Australasian+Journal+of+Philosophy&rft.atitle=What+Not+to+Multiply+Without+Necessity&rft.volume=93&rft.issue=4&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E644-%3C%2Fspan%3E664&rft.date=2015&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1080%2F00048402.2014.992447&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.semanticscholar.org%2FCorpusID%3A16923735%23id-name%3DS2CID&rft.aulast=Schaffer&rft.aufirst=Jonathan&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jonathanschaffer.org%2Flaser.pdf&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-Britannica2021-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-Britannica2021_3-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFDuignan" class="citation web cs1">Duignan, Brian. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Occams-razor">"Occam's Razor"</a>. <i>Encyclopedia Britannica</i>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20230925232653/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Occams-razor">Archived</a> from the original on 25 September 2023<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">11 May</span> 2021</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=Encyclopedia+Britannica&rft.atitle=Occam%27s+Razor&rft.aulast=Duignan&rft.aufirst=Brian&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.britannica.com%2Ftopic%2FOccams-razor&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-:0-4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-:0_4-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFBall2016" class="citation web cs1">Ball, Philip (11 August 2016). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/08/occams-razor/495332/">"The Tyranny of Simple Explanations"</a>. <i>The Atlantic</i>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20230202232303/https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/08/occams-razor/495332/">Archived</a> from the original on 2 February 2023<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2 February</span> 2023</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=The+Atlantic&rft.atitle=The+Tyranny+of+Simple+Explanations&rft.date=2016-08-11&rft.aulast=Ball&rft.aufirst=Philip&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theatlantic.com%2Fscience%2Farchive%2F2016%2F08%2Foccams-razor%2F495332%2F&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-fn_(100)-5"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-fn_(100)_5-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-fn_(100)_5-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-fn_(100)_5-2"><sup><i><b>c</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text">Hugh G. Gauch, <i>Scientific Method in Practice, Cambridge University Press</i>, 2003, <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-521-01708-4" title="Special:BookSources/0-521-01708-4">0-521-01708-4</a>, <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-521-01708-4" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-521-01708-4">978-0-521-01708-4</a>.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-fn_(101)-6"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-fn_(101)_6-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-fn_(101)_6-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-fn_(101)_6-2"><sup><i><b>c</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-fn_(101)_6-3"><sup><i><b>d</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-fn_(101)_6-4"><sup><i><b>e</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-fn_(101)_6-5"><sup><i><b>f</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFHoffmanMinkinCarpenter1997" class="citation journal cs1">Hoffman, Roald; Minkin, Vladimir I.; Carpenter, Barry K. (1997). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.hyle.org/journal/issues/3/hoffman.htm">"Ockham's Razor and Chemistry"</a>. <i>Hyle: International Journal for Philosophy of Chemistry</i>. <b>3</b>: <span class="nowrap">3–</span>28. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20180714163131/http://www.hyle.org/journal/issues/3/hoffman.htm">Archived</a> from the original on 14 July 2018<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">30 May</span> 2004</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Hyle%3A+International+Journal+for+Philosophy+of+Chemistry&rft.atitle=Ockham%27s+Razor+and+Chemistry&rft.volume=3&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E3-%3C%2Fspan%3E28&rft.date=1997&rft.aulast=Hoffman&rft.aufirst=Roald&rft.au=Minkin%2C+Vladimir+I.&rft.au=Carpenter%2C+Barry+K.&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hyle.org%2Fjournal%2Fissues%2F3%2Fhoffman.htm&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-Sober_2015_4-7"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-Sober_2015_4_7-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-Sober_2015_4_7-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFSober2015" class="citation book cs1"><a href="/wiki/Elliott_Sober" title="Elliott Sober">Sober, Elliott</a> (2015). <i>Ockham's Razors: A User's Manual</i>. Cambridge University Press. p. 4. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1107692534" title="Special:BookSources/978-1107692534"><bdi>978-1107692534</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Ockham%27s+Razors%3A+A+User%27s+Manual&rft.pages=4&rft.pub=Cambridge+University+Press&rft.date=2015&rft.isbn=978-1107692534&rft.aulast=Sober&rft.aufirst=Elliott&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-8"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-8">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Roger Ariew, Ockham's Razor: A Historical and Philosophical Analysis of Ockham's Principle of Parsimony, 1976</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-commentary-9"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-commentary_9-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-commentary_9-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text">Johannes Poncius's commentary on John Duns Scotus's <i>Opus Oxoniense,</i> book III, dist. 34, q. 1. in John Duns Scotus <i>Opera Omnia</i>, vol.15, Ed. Luke Wadding, Louvain (1639), reprinted Paris: Vives, (1894) p.483a</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-10"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-10">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Aristotle, <i>Physics</i> 189a15, <i>On the Heavens</i> 271a33. See also Franklin, <i>op cit</i>. note 44 to chap. 9.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-11"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-11">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFCharlesworth1956" class="citation journal cs1">Charlesworth, M. J. (1956). "Aristotle's Razor". <i>Philosophical Studies</i>. <b>6</b>: <span class="nowrap">105–</span>112. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.5840%2Fphilstudies1956606">10.5840/philstudies1956606</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Philosophical+Studies&rft.atitle=Aristotle%27s+Razor&rft.volume=6&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E105-%3C%2Fspan%3E112&rft.date=1956&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.5840%2Fphilstudies1956606&rft.aulast=Charlesworth&rft.aufirst=M.+J.&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-Franklin-12"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-Franklin_12-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-Franklin_12-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-Franklin_12-2"><sup><i><b>c</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFFranklin2001" class="citation book cs1"><a href="/wiki/James_Franklin_(philosopher)" title="James Franklin (philosopher)">Franklin, James</a> (2001). <i>The Science of Conjecture: Evidence and Probability before Pascal</i>. The Johns Hopkins University Press.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=The+Science+of+Conjecture%3A+Evidence+and+Probability+before+Pascal&rft.pub=The+Johns+Hopkins+University+Press&rft.date=2001&rft.aulast=Franklin&rft.aufirst=James&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span> Chap 9. p. 241.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-13"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-13">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="/wiki/Alistair_Cameron_Crombie" title="Alistair Cameron Crombie">Alistair Cameron Crombie</a>, <i>Robert Grosseteste and the Origins of Experimental Science 1100–1700</i> (1953) pp. 85–86</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-14"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-14">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.newadvent.org/summa/1002.htm#article3">"SUMMA THEOLOGICA: The existence of God (Prima Pars, Q. 2)"</a>. Newadvent.org. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130428053715/http://www.newadvent.org/summa/1002.htm#article3">Archived</a> from the original on 28 April 2013<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">26 March</span> 2013</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=SUMMA+THEOLOGICA%3A+The+existence+of+God+%28Prima+Pars%2C+Q.+2%29&rft.pub=Newadvent.org&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newadvent.org%2Fsumma%2F1002.htm%23article3&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-15"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-15">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFVallee2013" class="citation web cs1">Vallee, Jacques (11 February 2013). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://boingboing.net/2013/02/11/what-ockham-really-said.html">"What Ockham really said"</a>. Boing Boing. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130331171919/http://boingboing.net/2013/02/11/what-ockham-really-said.html">Archived</a> from the original on 31 March 2013<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">26 March</span> 2013</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=What+Ockham+really+said&rft.pub=Boing+Boing&rft.date=2013-02-11&rft.aulast=Vallee&rft.aufirst=Jacques&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fboingboing.net%2F2013%2F02%2F11%2Fwhat-ockham-really-said.html&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-16"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-16">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFBauer2007" class="citation book cs1">Bauer, Laurie (2007). <i>The linguistics Student's Handbook</i>. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=The+linguistics+Student%27s+Handbook&rft.place=Edinburgh&rft.pub=Edinburgh+University+Press&rft.date=2007&rft.aulast=Bauer&rft.aufirst=Laurie&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span> p. 155.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-17"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-17">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFFlew1979" class="citation book cs1"><a href="/wiki/Antony_Flew" title="Antony Flew">Flew, Antony</a> (1979). <i>A Dictionary of Philosophy</i>. London: Pan Books.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=A+Dictionary+of+Philosophy&rft.place=London&rft.pub=Pan+Books&rft.date=1979&rft.aulast=Flew&rft.aufirst=Antony&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span> p. 253.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-18"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-18">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="/wiki/Alistair_Cameron_Crombie" title="Alistair Cameron Crombie">Crombie, Alistair Cameron</a> (1959), <i>Medieval and Early Modern Philosophy</i>, Cambridge, MA: Harvard, Vol. 2, p. 30.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-Britannica-19"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-Britannica_19-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite class="citation encyclopaedia cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/424706/Ockhams-razor">"Ockham's razor"</a>. <i>Encyclopædia Britannica</i>. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 2010. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100823154602/https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/424706/Ockhams-razor">Archived</a> from the original on 23 August 2010<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">12 June</span> 2010</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=bookitem&rft.atitle=Ockham%27s+razor&rft.btitle=Encyclop%C3%A6dia+Britannica&rft.pub=Encyclop%C3%A6dia+Britannica+Online&rft.date=2010&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.britannica.com%2FEBchecked%2Ftopic%2F424706%2FOckhams-razor&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-Hawking-20"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-Hawking_20-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFHawking2003" class="citation book cs1"><a href="/wiki/Stephen_Hawking" title="Stephen Hawking">Hawking, Stephen</a> (2003). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=0eRZr_HK0LgC&pg=PA731"><i>On the Shoulders of Giants</i></a>. Running Press. p. 731. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-7624-1698-1" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-7624-1698-1"><bdi>978-0-7624-1698-1</bdi></a><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">24 February</span> 2016</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=On+the+Shoulders+of+Giants&rft.pages=731&rft.pub=Running+Press&rft.date=2003&rft.isbn=978-0-7624-1698-1&rft.aulast=Hawking&rft.aufirst=Stephen&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3D0eRZr_HK0LgC%26pg%3DPA731&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span><sup class="noprint Inline-Template"><span style="white-space: nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Link_rot" title="Wikipedia:Link rot"><span title=" Dead link tagged August 2023">permanent dead link</span></a></i><span style="visibility:hidden; color:transparent; padding-left:2px">‍</span>]</span></sup></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-21"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-21">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Primary source: <a href="#CITEREFNewton2011">Newton (2011</a>, p. 387) wrote the following two "philosophizing rules" at the beginning of part 3 of the <a href="/wiki/Philosophi%C3%A6_Naturalis_Principia_Mathematica" title="Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica">Principia</a> 1726 edition. <dl><dd>Regula I. Causas rerum naturalium non-plures admitti debere, quam quæ & veræ sint & earum phænomenis explicandis sufficient.</dd> <dd>Regula II. Ideoque effectuum naturalium ejusdem generis eædem assignandæ sunt causæ, quatenus fieri potest.</dd></dl> </span></li> <li id="cite_note-22"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-22">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite class="citation book cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/logical-construction/"><i>Logical Constructions</i></a>. Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University. 2016. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210126031419/https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/logical-construction/">Archived</a> from the original on 26 January 2021<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">29 March</span> 2011</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Logical+Constructions&rft.pub=Metaphysics+Research+Lab%2C+Stanford+University&rft.date=2016&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fplato.stanford.edu%2Fentries%2Flogical-construction%2F&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-ReferenceA-23"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-ReferenceA_23-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Induction: From Kolmogorov and Solomonoff to De Finetti and Back to Kolmogorov JJ McCall – Metroeconomica, 2004 – Wiley Online Library.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-ReferenceB-24"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-ReferenceB_24-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-ReferenceB_24-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFSoklakov2002" class="citation journal cs1">Soklakov, A. N. (2002). "Occam's Razor as a formal basis for a physical theory". <i>Foundations of Physics Letters</i>. <b>15</b> (2): <span class="nowrap">107–</span>135. <a href="/wiki/ArXiv_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ArXiv (identifier)">arXiv</a>:<span class="id-lock-free" title="Freely accessible"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://arxiv.org/abs/math-ph/0009007">math-ph/0009007</a></span>. <a href="/wiki/Bibcode_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Bibcode (identifier)">Bibcode</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2000math.ph...9007S">2000math.ph...9007S</a>. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1023%2FA%3A1020994407185">10.1023/A:1020994407185</a>. <a href="/wiki/S2CID_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="S2CID (identifier)">S2CID</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:14940740">14940740</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Foundations+of+Physics+Letters&rft.atitle=Occam%27s+Razor+as+a+formal+basis+for+a+physical+theory&rft.volume=15&rft.issue=2&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E107-%3C%2Fspan%3E135&rft.date=2002&rft_id=info%3Aarxiv%2Fmath-ph%2F0009007&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.semanticscholar.org%2FCorpusID%3A14940740%23id-name%3DS2CID&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1023%2FA%3A1020994407185&rft_id=info%3Abibcode%2F2000math.ph...9007S&rft.aulast=Soklakov&rft.aufirst=A.+N.&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-25"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-25">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFRathmannerHutter2011" class="citation journal cs1">Rathmanner, Samuel; <a href="/wiki/Marcus_Hutter" title="Marcus Hutter">Hutter, Marcus</a> (2011). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.3390%2Fe13061076">"A philosophical treatise of universal induction"</a>. <i>Entropy</i>. <b>13</b> (6): <span class="nowrap">1076–</span>1136. <a href="/wiki/ArXiv_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ArXiv (identifier)">arXiv</a>:<span class="id-lock-free" title="Freely accessible"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1105.5721">1105.5721</a></span>. <a href="/wiki/Bibcode_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Bibcode (identifier)">Bibcode</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2011Entrp..13.1076R">2011Entrp..13.1076R</a>. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<span class="id-lock-free" title="Freely accessible"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.3390%2Fe13061076">10.3390/e13061076</a></span>. <a href="/wiki/S2CID_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="S2CID (identifier)">S2CID</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:2499910">2499910</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Entropy&rft.atitle=A+philosophical+treatise+of+universal+induction&rft.volume=13&rft.issue=6&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E1076-%3C%2Fspan%3E1136&rft.date=2011&rft_id=info%3Aarxiv%2F1105.5721&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.semanticscholar.org%2FCorpusID%3A2499910%23id-name%3DS2CID&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.3390%2Fe13061076&rft_id=info%3Abibcode%2F2011Entrp..13.1076R&rft.aulast=Rathmanner&rft.aufirst=Samuel&rft.au=Hutter%2C+Marcus&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fdoi.org%2F10.3390%252Fe13061076&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-Baker-26"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-Baker_26-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFBaker2010" class="citation encyclopaedia cs1">Baker, Alan (25 February 2010). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2011/entries/simplicity/#OntPar">"Simplicity"</a>. In Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). <i>The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2011 Edition)</i>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210224044741/https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2011/entries/simplicity/#OntPar">Archived</a> from the original on 24 February 2021<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">6 April</span> 2013</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=bookitem&rft.atitle=Simplicity&rft.btitle=The+Stanford+Encyclopedia+of+Philosophy+%28Summer+2011+Edition%29&rft.date=2010-02-25&rft.aulast=Baker&rft.aufirst=Alan&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fplato.stanford.edu%2Farchives%2Fsum2011%2Fentries%2Fsimplicity%2F%23OntPar&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-math.ucr.edu-27"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-math.ucr.edu_27-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-math.ucr.edu_27-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-math.ucr.edu_27-2"><sup><i><b>c</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/General/occam.html">"What is Occam's Razor?"</a>. <i>math.ucr.edu</i>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170706234202/http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/General/occam.html">Archived</a> from the original on 6 July 2017.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=math.ucr.edu&rft.atitle=What+is+Occam%27s+Razor%3F&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fmath.ucr.edu%2Fhome%2Fbaez%2Fphysics%2FGeneral%2Foccam.html&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-28"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-28">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFStormy_Dawn2017" class="citation book cs1">Stormy Dawn (17 July 2017). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=shdlDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT30"><i>Everywhere The Soles of Your Feet Shall Tread</i></a>. Archway. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/9781480838024" title="Special:BookSources/9781480838024"><bdi>9781480838024</bdi></a>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20231028141247/https://books.google.com/books?id=shdlDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT30#v=onepage&q&f=false">Archived</a> from the original on 28 October 2023<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">22 May</span> 2017</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Everywhere+The+Soles+of+Your+Feet+Shall+Tread&rft.pub=Archway&rft.date=2017-07-17&rft.isbn=9781480838024&rft.au=Stormy+Dawn&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DshdlDQAAQBAJ%26pg%3DPT30&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-29"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-29">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFSotos2006" class="citation book cs1">Sotos, John G. (2006) [1991]. <i>Zebra Cards: An Aid to Obscure Diagnoses</i>. Mt. Vernon, VA: Mt. Vernon Book Systems. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-9818193-0-3" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-9818193-0-3"><bdi>978-0-9818193-0-3</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Zebra+Cards%3A+An+Aid+to+Obscure+Diagnoses&rft.place=Mt.+Vernon%2C+VA&rft.pub=Mt.+Vernon+Book+Systems&rft.date=2006&rft.isbn=978-0-9818193-0-3&rft.aulast=Sotos&rft.aufirst=John+G.&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-30"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-30">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFBecher1905" class="citation journal cs1">Becher, Erich (1905). "The Philosophical Views of Ernst Mach". <i>The Philosophical Review</i>. <b>14</b> (5): <span class="nowrap">535–</span>562. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.2307%2F2177489">10.2307/2177489</a>. <a href="/wiki/JSTOR_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="JSTOR (identifier)">JSTOR</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2177489">2177489</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=The+Philosophical+Review&rft.atitle=The+Philosophical+Views+of+Ernst+Mach&rft.volume=14&rft.issue=5&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E535-%3C%2Fspan%3E562&rft.date=1905&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.2307%2F2177489&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jstor.org%2Fstable%2F2177489%23id-name%3DJSTOR&rft.aulast=Becher&rft.aufirst=Erich&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-31"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-31">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Pegis 1945.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-Stanovich2007-32"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-Stanovich2007_32-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Stanovich, Keith E. (2007). <i>How to Think Straight About Psychology</i>. Boston: Pearson Education, pp. 19–33.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-33"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-33">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090427010136/http://www.skepdic.com/adhoc.html">"ad hoc hypothesis - The Skeptic's Dictionary - Skepdic.com"</a>. <i>skepdic.com</i>. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://skepdic.com/adhoc.html">the original</a> on 27 April 2009.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=skepdic.com&rft.atitle=ad+hoc+hypothesis+-+The+Skeptic%27s+Dictionary+-+Skepdic.com&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fskepdic.com%2Fadhoc.html&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-34"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-34">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Swinburne 1997 and Williams, Gareth T, 2008.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-35"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-35">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFGreenArmstrong2015" class="citation journal cs1">Green, K. C.; Armstrong, J. S. (2015). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://repository.upenn.edu/marketing_papers/366">"Simple versus complex forecasting: The evidence"</a>. <i>Journal of Business Research</i>. <b>68</b> (8): <span class="nowrap">1678–</span>1685. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.jbusres.2015.03.026">10.1016/j.jbusres.2015.03.026</a>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200608134337/https://repository.upenn.edu/marketing_papers/366/">Archived</a> from the original on 8 June 2020<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">22 January</span> 2019</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Journal+of+Business+Research&rft.atitle=Simple+versus+complex+forecasting%3A+The+evidence&rft.volume=68&rft.issue=8&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E1678-%3C%2Fspan%3E1685&rft.date=2015&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1016%2Fj.jbusres.2015.03.026&rft.aulast=Green&rft.aufirst=K.+C.&rft.au=Armstrong%2C+J.+S.&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Frepository.upenn.edu%2Fmarketing_papers%2F366&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span><span style="font-size:0.95em; font-size:95%; color: var( --color-subtle, #555 )">(subscription required)</span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-36"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-36">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFMacKay2003" class="citation book cs1">MacKay, David J. C. (2003). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/itprnn/book.pdf"><i>Information Theory, Inference, and Learning Algorithms</i></a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span>. <a href="/wiki/Bibcode_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Bibcode (identifier)">Bibcode</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2003itil.book.....M">2003itil.book.....M</a>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120915043535/http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/itprnn/book.pdf">Archived</a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span> from the original on 15 September 2012.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Information+Theory%2C+Inference%2C+and+Learning+Algorithms&rft.date=2003&rft_id=info%3Abibcode%2F2003itil.book.....M&rft.aulast=MacKay&rft.aufirst=David+J.+C.&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk%2Fitprnn%2Fbook.pdf&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-Jefferys-37"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-Jefferys_37-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-Jefferys_37-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFJefferysBerger1991" class="citation journal cs1">Jefferys, William H.; Berger, James O. (1991). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://quasar.as.utexas.edu/papers/ockham.pdf">"Ockham's Razor and Bayesian Statistics"</a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span>. <i><a href="/wiki/American_Scientist" title="American Scientist">American Scientist</a></i>. <b>80</b> (1): <span class="nowrap">64–</span>72. <a href="/wiki/JSTOR_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="JSTOR (identifier)">JSTOR</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/29774559">29774559</a>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20050304065538/http://quasar.as.utexas.edu/papers/ockham.pdf">Archived</a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span> from the original on 4 March 2005.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=American+Scientist&rft.atitle=Ockham%27s+Razor+and+Bayesian+Statistics&rft.volume=80&rft.issue=1&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E64-%3C%2Fspan%3E72&rft.date=1991&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jstor.org%2Fstable%2F29774559%23id-name%3DJSTOR&rft.aulast=Jefferys&rft.aufirst=William+H.&rft.au=Berger%2C+James+O.&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fquasar.as.utexas.edu%2Fpapers%2Fockham.pdf&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span> (preprint available as "Sharpening Occam's Razor on a Bayesian Strop").</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-38"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-38">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFJamesWittenHastieTibshirani2013" class="citation book cs1">James, Gareth; et al. (2013). <i>An Introduction to Statistical Learning</i>. springer. pp. 105, <span class="nowrap">203–</span>204. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/9781461471370" title="Special:BookSources/9781461471370"><bdi>9781461471370</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=An+Introduction+to+Statistical+Learning&rft.pages=105%2C+%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E203-%3C%2Fspan%3E204&rft.pub=springer&rft.date=2013&rft.isbn=9781461471370&rft.aulast=James&rft.aufirst=Gareth&rft.au=Witten%2C+Daniela&rft.au=Hastie%2C+Trevor&rft.au=Tibshirani%2C+Robert&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-39"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-39">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFPopper1992" class="citation book cs1"><a href="/wiki/Karl_Popper" title="Karl Popper">Popper, Karl</a> (1992) [1934]. <i>Logik der Forschung</i> [<i>The Logic of Scientific Discovery</i>] (2nd ed.). London: Routledge. pp. <span class="nowrap">121–</span>132. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-84-309-0711-3" title="Special:BookSources/978-84-309-0711-3"><bdi>978-84-309-0711-3</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Logik+der+Forschung&rft.place=London&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E121-%3C%2Fspan%3E132&rft.edition=2nd&rft.pub=Routledge&rft.date=1992&rft.isbn=978-84-309-0711-3&rft.aulast=Popper&rft.aufirst=Karl&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-Sober975-40"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-Sober975_40-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFSober1975" class="citation book cs1"><a href="/wiki/Elliott_Sober" title="Elliott Sober">Sober, Elliott</a> (1975). <span class="id-lock-registration" title="Free registration required"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/simplicity0000sobe"><i>Simplicity</i></a></span>. Oxford: <a href="/wiki/Clarendon_Press" class="mw-redirect" title="Clarendon Press">Clarendon Press</a>. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-19-824407-3" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-19-824407-3"><bdi>978-0-19-824407-3</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Simplicity&rft.place=Oxford&rft.pub=Clarendon+Press&rft.date=1975&rft.isbn=978-0-19-824407-3&rft.aulast=Sober&rft.aufirst=Elliott&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Farchive.org%2Fdetails%2Fsimplicity0000sobe&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-Sober2002-41"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-Sober2002_41-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFSober2004" class="citation book cs1">Sober, Elliott (2004). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=J_CDXu24qZUC&q=sober+rival+hypotheses&pg=RA1-PA13">"What is the Problem of Simplicity?"</a>. In Zellner, Arnold; <a href="/wiki/Hugo_A._Keuzenkamp" class="mw-redirect" title="Hugo A. Keuzenkamp">Keuzenkamp, Hugo A.</a>; McAleer, Michael (eds.). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=-YdbBN-O-JAC&q=zellner+simplicity"><i>Simplicity, Inference and Modeling: Keeping it Sophisticatedly Simple</i></a>. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press. pp. <span class="nowrap">13–</span>31. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-521-80361-8" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-521-80361-8"><bdi>978-0-521-80361-8</bdi></a>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20231028141247/https://books.google.com/books?id=-YdbBN-O-JAC&q=zellner+simplicity#v=snippet&q=zellner%20simplicity&f=false">Archived</a> from the original on 28 October 2023<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">4 August</span> 2012</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=bookitem&rft.atitle=What+is+the+Problem+of+Simplicity%3F&rft.btitle=Simplicity%2C+Inference+and+Modeling%3A+Keeping+it+Sophisticatedly+Simple&rft.place=Cambridge%2C+U.K.&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E13-%3C%2Fspan%3E31&rft.pub=Cambridge+University+Press&rft.date=2004&rft.isbn=978-0-521-80361-8&rft.aulast=Sober&rft.aufirst=Elliott&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DJ_CDXu24qZUC%26q%3Dsober%2Brival%2Bhypotheses%26pg%3DRA1-PA13&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20060901082031/http://philosophy.wisc.edu/sober/TILBURG.pdf">Paper as PDF.</a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-42"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-42">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Swinburne, Richard (1997). Simplicity as Evidence for Truth. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Marquette University Press. <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-87462-164-8" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-87462-164-8">978-0-87462-164-8</a>.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-fn_(104)-43"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-fn_(104)_43-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFde_Maupertuis1744" class="citation book cs1 cs1-prop-foreign-lang-source">de Maupertuis, P. L. M. (1744). <i>Mémoires de l'Académie Royale</i> (in French). p. 423.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=M%C3%A9moires+de+l%27Acad%C3%A9mie+Royale&rft.pages=423&rft.date=1744&rft.aulast=de+Maupertuis&rft.aufirst=P.+L.+M.&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-fn_(102)-44"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-fn_(102)_44-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFEinstein1905" class="citation journal cs1 cs1-prop-foreign-lang-source"><a href="/wiki/Albert_Einstein" title="Albert Einstein">Einstein, Albert</a> (1905). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://zenodo.org/record/1424057">"Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?"</a>. <i>Annalen der Physik</i> (in German). <b>323</b> (18): <span class="nowrap">639–</span>41. <a href="/wiki/Bibcode_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Bibcode (identifier)">Bibcode</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1905AnP...323..639E">1905AnP...323..639E</a>. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<span class="id-lock-free" title="Freely accessible"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1002%2Fandp.19053231314">10.1002/andp.19053231314</a></span>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20191021050723/https://zenodo.org/record/1424057">Archived</a> from the original on 21 October 2019<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">21 October</span> 2019</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Annalen+der+Physik&rft.atitle=Does+the+Inertia+of+a+Body+Depend+Upon+Its+Energy+Content%3F&rft.volume=323&rft.issue=18&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E639-%3C%2Fspan%3E41&rft.date=1905&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1002%2Fandp.19053231314&rft_id=info%3Abibcode%2F1905AnP...323..639E&rft.aulast=Einstein&rft.aufirst=Albert&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fzenodo.org%2Frecord%2F1424057&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-fn_(103)-45"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-fn_(103)_45-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">L. Nash, The Nature of the Natural Sciences, Boston: Little, Brown (1963).</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-fn_(105)-46"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-fn_(105)_46-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFde_Broglie1925" class="citation book cs1 cs1-prop-foreign-lang-source">de Broglie, L. 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Mohr Siebeck. p. 34. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-3-16-146910-7" title="Special:BookSources/978-3-16-146910-7"><bdi>978-3-16-146910-7</bdi></a>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20230122233538/https://books.google.com/books?id=hLSR2or-bGAC">Archived</a> from the original on 22 January 2023<span class="reference-accessdate">. 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UPNE. p. 39. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-55553-360-1" title="Special:BookSources/978-1-55553-360-1"><bdi>978-1-55553-360-1</bdi></a>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20230405182025/https://books.google.com/books?id=xdbQMywnrdwC&dq=%22the+supreme+goal+of+all+theory+is+to+make+the+irreducible+basic+elements+as+simple+and+as+few+as+possible+without+having+to+surrender+the+adequate+representation+of+a+single+datum+of%22&pg=PA39">Archived</a> from the original on 5 April 2023<span class="reference-accessdate">. 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Stanford. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20191007132502/https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ockham/">Archived</a> from the original on 7 October 2019<span class="reference-accessdate">. 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London: Black Swan. pp. <span class="nowrap">157–</span>158. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-552-77331-7" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-552-77331-7"><bdi>978-0-552-77331-7</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=The+God+delusion&rft.place=London&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E157-%3C%2Fspan%3E158&rft.pub=Black+Swan&rft.date=2007-01-01&rft.isbn=978-0-552-77331-7&rft.aulast=Dawkins&rft.aufirst=Richard&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-68"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-68">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFSchmittSchwabStrong2005" class="citation book cs1">Schmitt, Carl; Schwab, George; Strong, Tracy B. 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University of Chicago Press. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.7208%2Fchicago%2F9780226738901.001.0001">10.7208/chicago/9780226738901.001.0001</a>. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-226-73889-5" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-226-73889-5"><bdi>978-0-226-73889-5</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Political+Theology&rft.pub=University+of+Chicago+Press&rft.date=2005&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.7208%2Fchicago%2F9780226738901.001.0001&rft.isbn=978-0-226-73889-5&rft.aulast=Schmitt&rft.aufirst=Carl&rft.au=Schwab%2C+George&rft.au=Strong%2C+Tracy+B.&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fdx.doi.org%2F10.7208%2Fchicago%2F9780226738901.001.0001&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-69"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-69">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">p. 282, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=88xZAAAAcAAJ"><i>Mémoires du docteur F. Antommarchi, ou les derniers momens de Napoléon</i></a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160514072842/https://books.google.com/books?id=88xZAAAAcAAJ">Archived</a> 14 May 2016 at the <a href="/wiki/Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a>, vol. 1, 1825, Paris: Barrois L'Ainé</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-70"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-70">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFTonry2005" class="citation journal cs1">Tonry, Michael (2005). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20060623074821/http://www.columbialawreview.org/pdf/Tonry-Web.pdf">"Obsolescence and Immanence in Penal Theory and Policy"</a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span>. <i><a href="/wiki/Columbia_Law_Review" title="Columbia Law Review">Columbia Law Review</a></i>. <b>105</b>: <span class="nowrap">1233–</span>1275. 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Cambridge: Harvard University Press. pp. <span class="nowrap">20–</span>46. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-674-32351-3" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-674-32351-3"><bdi>978-0-674-32351-3</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=bookitem&rft.atitle=Two+dogmas+of+empiricism&rft.btitle=From+a+logical+point+of+view&rft.place=Cambridge&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E20-%3C%2Fspan%3E46&rft.pub=Harvard+University+Press&rft.date=1961&rft.isbn=978-0-674-32351-3&rft.aulast=Quine&rft.aufirst=W+V+O&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-91"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-91">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFGross2019" class="citation journal cs1">Gross, Fridolin (December 2019). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S003182480001552X/type/journal_article">"Occam's Razor in Molecular and Systems Biology"</a>. <i>Philosophy of Science</i>. <b>86</b> (5): <span class="nowrap">1134–</span>1145. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1086%2F705474">10.1086/705474</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Philosophy+of+Science&rft.atitle=Occam%27s+Razor+in+Molecular+and+Systems+Biology&rft.volume=86&rft.issue=5&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E1134-%3C%2Fspan%3E1145&rft.date=2019-12&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1086%2F705474&rft.aulast=Gross&rft.aufirst=Fridolin&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cambridge.org%2Fcore%2Fproduct%2Fidentifier%2FS003182480001552X%2Ftype%2Fjournal_article&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-92"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-92">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFImmanuel_Kant1929" class="citation book cs1"><a href="/wiki/Immanuel_Kant" title="Immanuel Kant">Immanuel Kant</a> (1929). Norman Kemp-Smith transl (ed.). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.hkbu.edu.hk/~ppp/cpr/toc.html"><i>The Critique of Pure Reason</i></a>. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 92. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120516172030/http://www.hkbu.edu.hk/~ppp/cpr/toc.html">Archived</a> from the original on 16 May 2012<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">27 October</span> 2012</span>. <q>Entium varietates non-temere esse minuendas</q></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=The+Critique+of+Pure+Reason&rft.pages=92&rft.pub=Palgrave+Macmillan&rft.date=1929&rft.au=Immanuel+Kant&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hkbu.edu.hk%2F~ppp%2Fcpr%2Ftoc.html&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-Woo2011-93"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-Woo2011_93-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFGordon_Woo2011" class="citation book cs1">Gordon Woo (20 June 2011). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=hsy6CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA303"><i>Calculating Catastrophe</i></a>. World Scientific. pp. 303–. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-84816-893-0" title="Special:BookSources/978-1-84816-893-0"><bdi>978-1-84816-893-0</bdi></a>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20231028141247/https://books.google.com/books?id=hsy6CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA303#v=onepage&q&f=false">Archived</a> from the original on 28 October 2023<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">10 August</span> 2021</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Calculating+Catastrophe&rft.pages=303-&rft.pub=World+Scientific&rft.date=2011-06-20&rft.isbn=978-1-84816-893-0&rft.au=Gordon+Woo&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3Dhsy6CgAAQBAJ%26pg%3DPA303&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-94"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-94">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFMazin2022" class="citation journal cs1">Mazin, Igor (April 2022). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41567-022-01575-2">"Inverse Occam's razor"</a>. <i>Nature Physics</i>. <b>18</b> (4): <span class="nowrap">367–</span>368. <a href="/wiki/ArXiv_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ArXiv (identifier)">arXiv</a>:<span class="id-lock-free" title="Freely accessible"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2204.08284">2204.08284</a></span>. <a href="/wiki/Bibcode_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Bibcode (identifier)">Bibcode</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2022NatPh..18..367M">2022NatPh..18..367M</a>. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1038%2Fs41567-022-01575-2">10.1038/s41567-022-01575-2</a>. <a href="/wiki/S2CID_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="S2CID (identifier)">S2CID</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:247832936">247832936</a>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20230709190723/https://www.nature.com/articles/s41567-022-01575-2">Archived</a> from the original on 9 July 2023<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">9 July</span> 2023</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Nature+Physics&rft.atitle=Inverse+Occam%27s+razor&rft.volume=18&rft.issue=4&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E367-%3C%2Fspan%3E368&rft.date=2022-04&rft_id=info%3Aarxiv%2F2204.08284&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.semanticscholar.org%2FCorpusID%3A247832936%23id-name%3DS2CID&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1038%2Fs41567-022-01575-2&rft_id=info%3Abibcode%2F2022NatPh..18..367M&rft.aulast=Mazin&rft.aufirst=Igor&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nature.com%2Farticles%2Fs41567-022-01575-2&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-Skepter-95"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-Skepter_95-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFKorteweg2016" class="citation journal cs1 cs1-prop-foreign-lang-source">Korteweg, Leon (2 December 2016). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://kloptdatwel.nl/2016/12/02/verslag-qed-2016/">"QED 2016 – verslag van een lang weekend tussen skeptici"</a>. <i><a href="/wiki/Skepter" title="Skepter">Skepter</a></i> (in Dutch). <b>29</b> (4). <a href="/wiki/Stichting_Skepsis" title="Stichting Skepsis">Stichting Skepsis</a>: <span class="nowrap">45–</span>46. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20171018012920/https://kloptdatwel.nl/2016/12/02/verslag-qed-2016/">Archived</a> from the original on 18 October 2017<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">21 October</span> 2017</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Skepter&rft.atitle=QED+2016+%E2%80%93+verslag+van+een+lang+weekend+tussen+skeptici&rft.volume=29&rft.issue=4&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E45-%3C%2Fspan%3E46&rft.date=2016-12-02&rft.aulast=Korteweg&rft.aufirst=Leon&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fkloptdatwel.nl%2F2016%2F12%2F02%2Fverslag-qed-2016%2F&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-Ockham2012-96"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-Ockham2012_96-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-Ockham2012_96-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFHyde2012" class="citation news cs1"><a href="/wiki/Deborah_Hyde" title="Deborah Hyde">Hyde, Deborah</a> (2012). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.skeptic.org.uk/features/awards2011update/">"The Skeptic Magazine Awards 2011: Winners"</a>. <i><a href="/wiki/The_Skeptic_(UK_magazine)" class="mw-redirect" title="The Skeptic (UK magazine)">The Skeptic</a></i>. Vol. 23, no. 4. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20171023062116/https://www.skeptic.org.uk/features/awards2011update/">Archived</a> from the original on 23 October 2017.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=The+Skeptic&rft.atitle=The+Skeptic+Magazine+Awards+2011%3A+Winners&rft.volume=23&rft.issue=4&rft.date=2012&rft.aulast=Hyde&rft.aufirst=Deborah&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.skeptic.org.uk%2Ffeatures%2Fawards2011update%2F&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> </ol></div></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Further_reading">Further reading</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Occam%27s_razor&action=edit&section=33" title="Edit section: Further reading"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239549316">.mw-parser-output .refbegin{margin-bottom:0.5em}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-hanging-indents>ul{margin-left:0}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-hanging-indents>ul>li{margin-left:0;padding-left:3.2em;text-indent:-3.2em}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-hanging-indents ul,.mw-parser-output .refbegin-hanging-indents ul li{list-style:none}@media(max-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .refbegin-hanging-indents>ul>li{padding-left:1.6em;text-indent:-1.6em}}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-columns{margin-top:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-columns ul{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-columns li{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .refbegin{font-size:90%}}</style><div class="refbegin refbegin-columns references-column-width" style="column-width: 30em"> <ul><li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFAriew1976" class="citation book cs1">Ariew, Roger (1976). <i>Ockham's Razor: A Historical and Philosophical Analysis of Ockham's Principle of Parsimony</i>. Champaign-Urbana, University of Illinois.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Ockham%27s+Razor%3A+A+Historical+and+Philosophical+Analysis+of+Ockham%27s+Principle+of+Parsimony&rft.pub=Champaign-Urbana%2C+University+of+Illinois&rft.date=1976&rft.aulast=Ariew&rft.aufirst=Roger&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFChurchland1984" class="citation book cs1"><a href="/wiki/Paul_Churchland" title="Paul Churchland">Churchland, Paul M.</a> (1984). <i>Matter and Consciousness</i>. Cambridge, Massachusetts: <a href="/wiki/MIT_Press" title="MIT Press">MIT Press</a>. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-262-53050-7" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-262-53050-7"><bdi>978-0-262-53050-7</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Matter+and+Consciousness&rft.place=Cambridge%2C+Massachusetts&rft.pub=MIT+Press&rft.date=1984&rft.isbn=978-0-262-53050-7&rft.aulast=Churchland&rft.aufirst=Paul+M.&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFCrick1988" class="citation book cs1"><a href="/wiki/Francis_Crick" title="Francis Crick">Crick, Francis H. C.</a> (1988). <a href="/wiki/What_Mad_Pursuit:_A_Personal_View_of_Scientific_Discovery" class="mw-redirect" title="What Mad Pursuit: A Personal View of Scientific Discovery"><i>What Mad Pursuit: A Personal View of Scientific Discovery</i></a>. New York, New York: <a href="/wiki/Basic_Books" title="Basic Books">Basic Books</a>. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-465-09137-9" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-465-09137-9"><bdi>978-0-465-09137-9</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=What+Mad+Pursuit%3A+A+Personal+View+of+Scientific+Discovery&rft.place=New+York%2C+New+York&rft.pub=Basic+Books&rft.date=1988&rft.isbn=978-0-465-09137-9&rft.aulast=Crick&rft.aufirst=Francis+H.+C.&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFDoweSteve_GardnerGraham_Oppy2007" class="citation journal cs1">Dowe, David L.; Steve Gardner; Graham Oppy (December 2007). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/2877/1/DoweGardnerOppy_draftBayesNotBust.pdf">"Bayes not Bust! Why Simplicity is no Problem for Bayesians"</a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span>. <i>British Journal for the Philosophy of Science</i>. <b>58</b> (4): <span class="nowrap">709–</span>754. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fbjps%2Faxm033">10.1093/bjps/axm033</a>. <a href="/wiki/S2CID_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="S2CID (identifier)">S2CID</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:8863978">8863978</a>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/2877/1/DoweGardnerOppy_draftBayesNotBust.pdf">Archived</a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span> from the original on 9 October 2022.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=British+Journal+for+the+Philosophy+of+Science&rft.atitle=Bayes+not+Bust%21+Why+Simplicity+is+no+Problem+for+Bayesians&rft.volume=58&rft.issue=4&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E709-%3C%2Fspan%3E754&rft.date=2007-12&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1093%2Fbjps%2Faxm033&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.semanticscholar.org%2FCorpusID%3A8863978%23id-name%3DS2CID&rft.aulast=Dowe&rft.aufirst=David+L.&rft.au=Steve+Gardner&rft.au=Graham+Oppy&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fphilsci-archive.pitt.edu%2F2877%2F1%2FDoweGardnerOppy_draftBayesNotBust.pdf&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFDudaPeter_E._HartDavid_G._Stork2000" class="citation book cs1">Duda, Richard O.; Peter E. Hart; David G. Stork (2000). <i>Pattern Classification</i> (2nd ed.). <a href="/wiki/John_Wiley_%26_Sons" class="mw-redirect" title="John Wiley & Sons">Wiley-Interscience</a>. pp. <span class="nowrap">487–</span>489. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-471-05669-0" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-471-05669-0"><bdi>978-0-471-05669-0</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Pattern+Classification&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E487-%3C%2Fspan%3E489&rft.edition=2nd&rft.pub=Wiley-Interscience&rft.date=2000&rft.isbn=978-0-471-05669-0&rft.aulast=Duda&rft.aufirst=Richard+O.&rft.au=Peter+E.+Hart&rft.au=David+G.+Stork&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFEpstein1984" class="citation journal cs1">Epstein, Robert (1984). "The Principle of Parsimony and Some Applications in Psychology". <i>Journal of Mind Behavior</i>. <b>5</b>: <span class="nowrap">119–</span>130.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Journal+of+Mind+Behavior&rft.atitle=The+Principle+of+Parsimony+and+Some+Applications+in+Psychology&rft.volume=5&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E119-%3C%2Fspan%3E130&rft.date=1984&rft.aulast=Epstein&rft.aufirst=Robert&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFHoffmannVladimir_I._MinkinBarry_K._Carpenter1997" class="citation journal cs1">Hoffmann, Roald; Vladimir I. Minkin; Barry K. Carpenter (1997). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.hyle.org/journal/issues/3/hoffman.htm">"Ockham's Razor and Chemistry"</a>. <i>Hyle: International Journal for Philosophy of Chemistry</i>. <b>3</b>: <span class="nowrap">3–</span>28. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20180714163131/http://www.hyle.org/journal/issues/3/hoffman.htm">Archived</a> from the original on 14 July 2018<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">14 April</span> 2006</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Hyle%3A+International+Journal+for+Philosophy+of+Chemistry&rft.atitle=Ockham%27s+Razor+and+Chemistry&rft.volume=3&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E3-%3C%2Fspan%3E28&rft.date=1997&rft.aulast=Hoffmann&rft.aufirst=Roald&rft.au=Vladimir+I.+Minkin&rft.au=Barry+K.+Carpenter&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hyle.org%2Fjournal%2Fissues%2F3%2Fhoffman.htm&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFJacquette1994" class="citation book cs1">Jacquette, Dale (1994). <i>Philosophy of Mind</i>. Engleswoods Cliffs, New Jersey: <a href="/wiki/Prentice_Hall" title="Prentice Hall">Prentice Hall</a>. pp. <span class="nowrap">34–</span>36. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-13-030933-4" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-13-030933-4"><bdi>978-0-13-030933-4</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Philosophy+of+Mind&rft.place=Engleswoods+Cliffs%2C+New+Jersey&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E34-%3C%2Fspan%3E36&rft.pub=Prentice+Hall&rft.date=1994&rft.isbn=978-0-13-030933-4&rft.aulast=Jacquette&rft.aufirst=Dale&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFJaynes1994" class="citation book cs1"><a href="/wiki/Edwin_Thompson_Jaynes" title="Edwin Thompson Jaynes">Jaynes, Edwin Thompson</a> (1994). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://omega.math.albany.edu:8008/ETJ-PS/cc24f.ps">"Model Comparison and Robustness"</a>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://omega.math.albany.edu:8008/JaynesBook.html"><i>Probability Theory: The Logic of Science</i></a>. Cambridge University Press. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-521-59271-0" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-521-59271-0"><bdi>978-0-521-59271-0</bdi></a>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20181024011719/http://omega.math.albany.edu:8008/JaynesBook.html">Archived</a> from the original on 24 October 2018<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">24 November</span> 2003</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=bookitem&rft.atitle=Model+Comparison+and+Robustness&rft.btitle=Probability+Theory%3A+The+Logic+of+Science&rft.pub=Cambridge+University+Press&rft.date=1994&rft.isbn=978-0-521-59271-0&rft.aulast=Jaynes&rft.aufirst=Edwin+Thompson&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fomega.math.albany.edu%3A8008%2FETJ-PS%2Fcc24f.ps&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFJefferysBerger,_James_O.1991" class="citation journal cs1">Jefferys, William H.; Berger, James O. (1991). "Ockham's Razor and Bayesian Statistics". <i>American Scientist</i>. <b>80</b>: <span class="nowrap">64–</span>72.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=American+Scientist&rft.atitle=Ockham%27s+Razor+and+Bayesian+Statistics&rft.volume=80&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E64-%3C%2Fspan%3E72&rft.date=1991&rft.aulast=Jefferys&rft.aufirst=William+H.&rft.au=Berger%2C+James+O.&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span> (Preprint available as "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://quasar.as.utexas.edu/papers/ockham.pdf">Sharpening Occam's Razor on a Bayesian Strop</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20050304065538/http://quasar.as.utexas.edu/papers/ockham.pdf">Archived</a> 4 March 2005 at the <a href="/wiki/Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a>").</li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFKatz1998" class="citation book cs1">Katz, Jerrold (1998). <i>Realistic Rationalism</i>. MIT Press. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-262-11229-1" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-262-11229-1"><bdi>978-0-262-11229-1</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Realistic+Rationalism&rft.pub=MIT+Press&rft.date=1998&rft.isbn=978-0-262-11229-1&rft.aulast=Katz&rft.aufirst=Jerrold&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFKnealeMartha_Kneale1962" class="citation book cs1">Kneale, William; Martha Kneale (1962). <i>The Development of Logic</i>. London: <a href="/wiki/Oxford_University_Press" title="Oxford University Press">Oxford University Press</a>. p. 243. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-19-824183-6" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-19-824183-6"><bdi>978-0-19-824183-6</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=The+Development+of+Logic&rft.place=London&rft.pages=243&rft.pub=Oxford+University+Press&rft.date=1962&rft.isbn=978-0-19-824183-6&rft.aulast=Kneale&rft.aufirst=William&rft.au=Martha+Kneale&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFMacKay2003" class="citation book cs1"><a href="/wiki/David_J.C._MacKay" class="mw-redirect" title="David J.C. MacKay">MacKay, David J. C.</a> (2003). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/mackay/itila/book.html"><i>Information Theory, Inference and Learning Algorithms</i></a>. <a href="/wiki/Cambridge_University_Press" title="Cambridge University Press">Cambridge University Press</a>. <a href="/wiki/Bibcode_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Bibcode (identifier)">Bibcode</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2003itil.book.....M">2003itil.book.....M</a>. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-521-64298-9" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-521-64298-9"><bdi>978-0-521-64298-9</bdi></a>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160217105359/http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/mackay/itila/book.html">Archived</a> from the original on 17 February 2016<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">24 February</span> 2016</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Information+Theory%2C+Inference+and+Learning+Algorithms&rft.pub=Cambridge+University+Press&rft.date=2003&rft_id=info%3Abibcode%2F2003itil.book.....M&rft.isbn=978-0-521-64298-9&rft.aulast=MacKay&rft.aufirst=David+J.+C.&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk%2Fmackay%2Fitila%2Fbook.html&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFMaurer1984" class="citation journal cs1">Maurer, A. (1984). "Ockham's Razor and Chatton's Anti-Razor". <i>Mediaeval Studies</i>. <b>46</b>: <span class="nowrap">463–</span>475. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1484%2FJ.MS.2.306670">10.1484/J.MS.2.306670</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Mediaeval+Studies&rft.atitle=Ockham%27s+Razor+and+Chatton%27s+Anti-Razor&rft.volume=46&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E463-%3C%2Fspan%3E475&rft.date=1984&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1484%2FJ.MS.2.306670&rft.aulast=Maurer&rft.aufirst=A.&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFMcDonald2005" class="citation encyclopaedia cs1">McDonald, William (2005). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/kierkegaard/">"Søren Kierkegaard"</a>. <i><a href="/wiki/Stanford_Encyclopedia_of_Philosophy" title="Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy">Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy</a></i>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170225014254/https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/kierkegaard/">Archived</a> from the original on 25 February 2017<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">14 April</span> 2006</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=bookitem&rft.atitle=S%C3%B8ren+Kierkegaard&rft.btitle=Stanford+Encyclopedia+of+Philosophy&rft.date=2005&rft.aulast=McDonald&rft.aufirst=William&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fplato.stanford.edu%2Fentries%2Fkierkegaard%2F&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFMenger1960" class="citation journal cs1">Menger, Karl (1960). "A Counterpart of Ockham's Razor in Pure and Applied Mathematics: Ontological Uses". <i>Synthese</i>. <b>12</b> (4): <span class="nowrap">415–</span>428. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1007%2FBF00485426">10.1007/BF00485426</a>. <a href="/wiki/S2CID_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="S2CID (identifier)">S2CID</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:46962297">46962297</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Synthese&rft.atitle=A+Counterpart+of+Ockham%27s+Razor+in+Pure+and+Applied+Mathematics%3A+Ontological+Uses&rft.volume=12&rft.issue=4&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E415-%3C%2Fspan%3E428&rft.date=1960&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1007%2FBF00485426&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.semanticscholar.org%2FCorpusID%3A46962297%23id-name%3DS2CID&rft.aulast=Menger&rft.aufirst=Karl&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFMorgan1903" class="citation book cs1">Morgan, C. Lloyd (1903). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20050412025647/http://spartan.ac.brocku.ca/~lward/Morgan/Morgan_1903/Morgan_1903_toc.html">"Other Minds than Ours"</a>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://spartan.ac.brocku.ca/~lward/Morgan/Morgan_1903/Morgan_1903_toc.html"><i>An Introduction to Comparative Psychology</i></a> (2nd ed.). London: W. Scott. p. 59. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-89093-171-4" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-89093-171-4"><bdi>978-0-89093-171-4</bdi></a>. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://spartan.ac.brocku.ca/~lward/Morgan/Morgan_1903/Morgan_1903_03.html">the original</a> on 12 April 2005<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">15 April</span> 2006</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=bookitem&rft.atitle=Other+Minds+than+Ours&rft.btitle=An+Introduction+to+Comparative+Psychology&rft.place=London&rft.pages=59&rft.edition=2nd&rft.pub=W.+Scott&rft.date=1903&rft.isbn=978-0-89093-171-4&rft.aulast=Morgan&rft.aufirst=C.+Lloyd&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fspartan.ac.brocku.ca%2F~lward%2FMorgan%2FMorgan_1903%2FMorgan_1903_03.html&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFNewton2011" class="citation book cs1"><a href="/wiki/Isaac_Newton" title="Isaac Newton">Newton, Isaac</a> (2011) [1726]. <a href="/wiki/Philosophi%C3%A6_Naturalis_Principia_Mathematica" title="Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica"><i>Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica</i></a> (3rd ed.). London: <a href="/wiki/Henry_Pemberton" title="Henry Pemberton">Henry Pemberton</a>. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-60386-435-0" title="Special:BookSources/978-1-60386-435-0"><bdi>978-1-60386-435-0</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Philosophi%C3%A6+Naturalis+Principia+Mathematica&rft.place=London&rft.edition=3rd&rft.pub=Henry+Pemberton&rft.date=2011&rft.isbn=978-1-60386-435-0&rft.aulast=Newton&rft.aufirst=Isaac&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFNolan1997" class="citation journal cs1">Nolan, D. (1997). "Quantitative Parsimony". <i><a href="/wiki/British_Journal_for_the_Philosophy_of_Science" title="British Journal for the Philosophy of Science">British Journal for the Philosophy of Science</a></i>. <b>48</b> (3): <span class="nowrap">329–</span>343. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fbjps%2F48.3.329">10.1093/bjps/48.3.329</a>. <a href="/wiki/S2CID_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="S2CID (identifier)">S2CID</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:229320568">229320568</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=British+Journal+for+the+Philosophy+of+Science&rft.atitle=Quantitative+Parsimony&rft.volume=48&rft.issue=3&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E329-%3C%2Fspan%3E343&rft.date=1997&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1093%2Fbjps%2F48.3.329&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.semanticscholar.org%2FCorpusID%3A229320568%23id-name%3DS2CID&rft.aulast=Nolan&rft.aufirst=D.&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite class="citation book cs1"><i>Basic Writings of St. Thomas Aquinas</i>. 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London: Routledge. pp. <span class="nowrap">121–</span>132. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-84-309-0711-3" title="Special:BookSources/978-84-309-0711-3"><bdi>978-84-309-0711-3</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=bookitem&rft.atitle=7.+Simplicity&rft.btitle=The+Logic+of+Scientific+Discovery&rft.place=London&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E121-%3C%2Fspan%3E132&rft.edition=2nd&rft.pub=Routledge&rft.date=1992&rft.isbn=978-84-309-0711-3&rft.aulast=Popper&rft.aufirst=Karl&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFRodríguez-Fernández1999" class="citation journal cs1">Rodríguez-Fernández, J. L. (1999). "Ockham's Razor". <i>Endeavour</i>. <b>23</b> (3): <span class="nowrap">121–</span>125. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1016%2FS0160-9327%2899%2901199-0">10.1016/S0160-9327(99)01199-0</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Endeavour&rft.atitle=Ockham%27s+Razor&rft.volume=23&rft.issue=3&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E121-%3C%2Fspan%3E125&rft.date=1999&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1016%2FS0160-9327%2899%2901199-0&rft.aulast=Rodr%C3%ADguez-Fern%C3%A1ndez&rft.aufirst=J.+L.&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFSchmitt2005" class="citation web cs1">Schmitt, Gavin C. (2005). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20070211004045/http://framingbusiness.net/php/2005/ockhamatheism.php">"Ockham's Razor Suggests Atheism"</a>. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://framingbusiness.net/php/2005/ockhamatheism.php">the original</a> on 11 February 2007<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">15 April</span> 2006</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=Ockham%27s+Razor+Suggests+Atheism&rft.date=2005&rft.aulast=Schmitt&rft.aufirst=Gavin+C.&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fframingbusiness.net%2Fphp%2F2005%2Fockhamatheism.php&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFSmart1959" class="citation journal cs1">Smart, J. J. C. (1959). "Sensations and Brain Processes". <i><a href="/wiki/The_Philosophical_Review" title="The Philosophical Review">The Philosophical Review</a></i>. <b>68</b> (2): <span class="nowrap">141–</span>156. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.2307%2F2182164">10.2307/2182164</a>. <a href="/wiki/JSTOR_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="JSTOR (identifier)">JSTOR</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2182164">2182164</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=The+Philosophical+Review&rft.atitle=Sensations+and+Brain+Processes&rft.volume=68&rft.issue=2&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E141-%3C%2Fspan%3E156&rft.date=1959&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.2307%2F2182164&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jstor.org%2Fstable%2F2182164%23id-name%3DJSTOR&rft.aulast=Smart&rft.aufirst=J.+J.+C.&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFSober1975" class="citation book cs1">Sober, Elliott (1975). <i>Simplicity</i>. Oxford: <a href="/wiki/Oxford_University_Press" title="Oxford University Press">Oxford University Press</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Simplicity&rft.place=Oxford&rft.pub=Oxford+University+Press&rft.date=1975&rft.aulast=Sober&rft.aufirst=Elliott&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFSober1981" class="citation journal cs1">Sober, Elliott (1981). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20111215051421/http://commonsenseatheism.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Sober-The-Principle-of-Parsimony.pdf">"The Principle of Parsimony"</a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span>. <i>British Journal for the Philosophy of Science</i>. <b>32</b> (2): <span class="nowrap">145–</span>156. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fbjps%2F32.2.145">10.1093/bjps/32.2.145</a>. <a href="/wiki/S2CID_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="S2CID (identifier)">S2CID</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:120916709">120916709</a>. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://commonsenseatheism.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Sober-The-Principle-of-Parsimony.pdf">the original</a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span> on 15 December 2011<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">4 August</span> 2012</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=British+Journal+for+the+Philosophy+of+Science&rft.atitle=The+Principle+of+Parsimony&rft.volume=32&rft.issue=2&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E145-%3C%2Fspan%3E156&rft.date=1981&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1093%2Fbjps%2F32.2.145&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.semanticscholar.org%2FCorpusID%3A120916709%23id-name%3DS2CID&rft.aulast=Sober&rft.aufirst=Elliott&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fcommonsenseatheism.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2010%2F04%2FSober-The-Principle-of-Parsimony.pdf&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFSober1990" class="citation book cs1">Sober, Elliott (1990). "Let's Razor Ockham's Razor". In Dudley Knowles (ed.). <i>Explanation and its Limits</i>. Cambridge: <a href="/wiki/Cambridge_University_Press" title="Cambridge University Press">Cambridge University Press</a>. pp. <span class="nowrap">73–</span>94.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=bookitem&rft.atitle=Let%27s+Razor+Ockham%27s+Razor&rft.btitle=Explanation+and+its+Limits&rft.place=Cambridge&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E73-%3C%2Fspan%3E94&rft.pub=Cambridge+University+Press&rft.date=1990&rft.aulast=Sober&rft.aufirst=Elliott&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFSober2002" class="citation web cs1">Sober, Elliott (2002). Zellner; et al. (eds.). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20061108113237/http://philosophy.wisc.edu/sober/TILBURG.pdf">"What is the Problem of Simplicity?"</a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span>. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://philosophy.wisc.edu/sober/TILBURG.pdf">the original</a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span> on 8 November 2006<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">4 August</span> 2012</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=What+is+the+Problem+of+Simplicity%3F&rft.date=2002&rft.aulast=Sober&rft.aufirst=Elliott&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fphilosophy.wisc.edu%2Fsober%2FTILBURG.pdf&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFSober2015" class="citation book cs1">Sober, Elliott (2015). <i>Ockham's Razors - A User's Manual</i>. Cambridge, England: <a href="/wiki/Cambridge_University_Press" title="Cambridge University Press">Cambridge University Press</a>. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-107-06849--0" title="Special:BookSources/978-1-107-06849--0"><bdi>978-1-107-06849--0</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Ockham%27s+Razors+-+A+User%27s+Manual&rft.place=Cambridge%2C+England&rft.pub=Cambridge+University+Press&rft.date=2015&rft.isbn=978-1-107-06849--0&rft.aulast=Sober&rft.aufirst=Elliott&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFSwinburne1997" class="citation book cs1">Swinburne, Richard (1997). <i>Simplicity as Evidence for Truth</i>. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: <a href="/wiki/Marquette_University_Press" title="Marquette University Press">Marquette University Press</a>. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-87462-164-8" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-87462-164-8"><bdi>978-0-87462-164-8</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Simplicity+as+Evidence+for+Truth&rft.place=Milwaukee%2C+Wisconsin&rft.pub=Marquette+University+Press&rft.date=1997&rft.isbn=978-0-87462-164-8&rft.aulast=Swinburne&rft.aufirst=Richard&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFThorburn1918" class="citation journal cs1">Thorburn, W. M. (1918). <a class="external text" href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Myth_of_Occam%27s_Razor">"The Myth of Occam's Razor"</a>. <i>Mind</i>. <b>27</b> (107): <span class="nowrap">345–</span>353. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fmind%2FXXVII.3.345">10.1093/mind/XXVII.3.345</a>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20191005192629/https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Myth_of_Occam%27s_Razor">Archived</a> from the original on 5 October 2019<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">11 July</span> 2009</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Mind&rft.atitle=The+Myth+of+Occam%27s+Razor&rft.volume=27&rft.issue=107&rft.pages=%3Cspan+class%3D%22nowrap%22%3E345-%3C%2Fspan%3E353&rft.date=1918&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1093%2Fmind%2FXXVII.3.345&rft.aulast=Thorburn&rft.aufirst=W.+M.&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikisource.org%2Fwiki%2FThe_Myth_of_Occam%2527s_Razor&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222" /><cite id="CITEREFWilliams1966" class="citation book cs1">Williams, George C. (1966). <i>Adaptation and natural selection: A Critique of some Current Evolutionary Thought</i>. Princeton, New Jersey: <a href="/wiki/Princeton_University_Press" title="Princeton University Press">Princeton University Press</a>. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-691-02615-2" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-691-02615-2"><bdi>978-0-691-02615-2</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Adaptation+and+natural+selection%3A+A+Critique+of+some+Current+Evolutionary+Thought&rft.place=Princeton%2C+New+Jersey&rft.pub=Princeton+University+Press&rft.date=1966&rft.isbn=978-0-691-02615-2&rft.aulast=Williams&rft.aufirst=George+C.&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AOccam%27s+razor" class="Z3988"></span></li></ul> </div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="External_links">External links</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a 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<i><b><a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Occam%27s_razor" class="extiw" title="wiktionary:Occam's razor">Occam's razor</a></b></i> or <i><b><a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/parsimony" class="extiw" title="wiktionary:parsimony">parsimony</a></b></i> in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.</div></div> </div> <ul><li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007m0w4">Ockham's Razor</a>, BBC Radio 4 discussion with Sir Anthony Kenny, Marilyn Adams & Richard Cross (<i>In Our Time</i>, 31 May 2007)</li></ul> <div class="navbox-styles"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1129693374">.mw-parser-output .hlist dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul{margin:0;padding:0}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt,.mw-parser-output .hlist li{margin:0;display:inline}.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline 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title="View this template">v</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-talk"><a href="/wiki/Template_talk:Philosophy_of_religion" title="Template talk:Philosophy of religion"><abbr title="Discuss this template">t</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-edit"><a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Philosophy_of_religion" title="Special:EditPage/Template:Philosophy of religion"><abbr title="Edit this template">e</abbr></a></li></ul></div><div id="Philosophy_of_religion485" style="font-size:114%;margin:0 4em"><a href="/wiki/Philosophy_of_religion" title="Philosophy of religion">Philosophy of religion</a></div></th></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%;text-align:center;"><a href="/wiki/Conceptions_of_God" title="Conceptions of God">Conceptions of God</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"></div><table class="nowraplinks navbox-subgroup" style="border-spacing:0"><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" class="navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Brahman" title="Brahman">Brahman</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Demiurge" title="Demiurge">Demiurge</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Divine_simplicity" title="Divine simplicity">Divine simplicity</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ethical_egoism" title="Ethical egoism">Egoism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Holy_Spirit" title="Holy Spirit">Holy Spirit</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Misotheism" title="Misotheism">Misotheism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Pandeism" title="Pandeism">Pandeism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Personal_god" title="Personal god">Personal god</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Process_theology" title="Process theology">Process theology</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/God" title="God">Supreme Being</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Unmoved_mover" title="Unmoved mover">Unmoved mover</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:4em;font-weight:normal; text-align:center;">God in</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/God_in_Abrahamic_religions" title="God in Abrahamic religions">Abrahamic religions</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Creator_in_Buddhism" title="Creator in Buddhism">Buddhism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/God_in_Christianity" title="God in Christianity">Christianity</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/God_in_Hinduism" title="God in Hinduism">Hinduism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/God_in_Islam" title="God in Islam">Islam</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/God_in_Jainism" title="God in Jainism">Jainism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/God_in_Judaism" title="God in Judaism">Judaism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/God_in_Mormonism" title="God in Mormonism">Mormonism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/God_in_Sikhism" title="God in Sikhism">Sikhism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/God_in_the_Bah%C3%A1%CA%BC%C3%AD_Faith" title="God in the Baháʼí Faith">Baháʼí Faith</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wiccan_views_of_divinity" title="Wiccan views of divinity">Wicca</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr></tbody></table><div></div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%;text-align:center;"><a href="/wiki/Existence_of_God" title="Existence of God">Existence of God</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"></div><table class="nowraplinks navbox-subgroup" style="border-spacing:0"><tbody><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:4em;font-weight:normal; text-align:center;">For</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Argument_from_beauty" title="Argument from beauty">Beauty</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Christological_argument" title="Christological argument">Christological</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Lewis%27_trilemma" class="mw-redirect" title="Lewis' trilemma">Trilemma</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Resurrection_of_Jesus" title="Resurrection of Jesus">Resurrection</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Argument_from_consciousness" title="Argument from consciousness">Consciousness</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Cosmological_argument" title="Cosmological argument">Cosmological</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Kalam_cosmological_argument" title="Kalam cosmological argument">Kalam cosmological</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Cosmological_argument#Aquinas's_argument_from_contingency" title="Cosmological argument">Contingency</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Cosmological_argument#Duns_Scotus's_metaphysical_argument" title="Cosmological argument">Metaphysical</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Argument_from_degree" title="Argument from degree">Degree</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Argument_from_desire" title="Argument from desire">Desire</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Argument_from_religious_experience" title="Argument from religious experience">Experience</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Leap_of_faith" title="Leap of faith">Existential choice</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Fine-tuned_universe" title="Fine-tuned universe">Fine-tuned universe</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Intelligent_design" title="Intelligent design">Intelligent Design</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Ontogenetic_depth" title="Ontogenetic depth">Ontogenetic depth</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ontological_argument#Baruch_Spinoza" title="Ontological argument">Knowledge</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Argument_from_love" title="Argument from love">Love</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Mathematics_and_God" title="Mathematics and God">Mathematics</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Argument_from_miracles" title="Argument from miracles">Miracles</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Argument_from_morality" title="Argument from morality">Morality</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/George_Berkeley#Theology" title="George Berkeley">Mystical idealism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Natural-law_argument" title="Natural-law argument">Natural-law</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Proof_of_the_Truthful" title="Proof of the Truthful">Necessary existent</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Seddiqin_argument" title="Seddiqin argument">Seddiqin</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Nyayakusumanjali" title="Nyayakusumanjali">Nyayakusumanjali</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ontological_argument" title="Ontological argument">Ontological</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Proslogion" title="Proslogion">Anselm</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/G%C3%B6del%27s_ontological_proof" title="Gödel's ontological proof">Gödel</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Meinongian_argument" title="Meinongian argument">Meinongian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ontological_argument#Modal_versions_of_the_ontological_argument" title="Ontological argument">Modal</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Transcendent_theosophy" title="Transcendent theosophy">Mulla Sudra</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Pascal%27s_wager" title="Pascal's wager">Pascal's wager</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Argument_from_reason" title="Argument from reason">Reason</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Reformed_epistemology" title="Reformed epistemology">Proper basis and Reformed epistemology</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Religious_responses_to_the_problem_of_evil" title="Religious responses to the problem of evil">Responses to the problem of evil</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Teleological_argument" title="Teleological argument">Teleological</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Junkyard_tornado" title="Junkyard tornado">Junkyard</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Natural-law_argument" title="Natural-law argument">Natural law</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Watchmaker_analogy" title="Watchmaker analogy">Watchmaker</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Existence_of_God#Arguments_from_witnesses'_testimony" title="Existence of God">Testimony</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Existence_of_God#Arguments_from_historical_events" title="Existence of God">Historical events</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Existence_of_God#Arguments_from_the_authority_of_historical_personages" title="Existence of God">Historical personages</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Trademark_argument" title="Trademark argument">Trademark</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Transcendental_argument_for_the_existence_of_God" title="Transcendental argument for the existence of God">Transcendental</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:4em;font-weight:normal; text-align:center;">Against</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Ultimate_Boeing_747_gambit" title="Ultimate Boeing 747 gambit">747 gambit</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Atheist%27s_Wager" class="mw-redirect" title="Atheist's Wager">Atheist's Wager</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Problem_of_evil" title="Problem of evil">Evil</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Argument_from_free_will" title="Argument from free will">Free will</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Problem_of_Hell" title="Problem of Hell">Hell</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Argument_from_inconsistent_revelations" class="mw-redirect" title="Argument from inconsistent revelations">Inconsistent revelations</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Argument_from_nonbelief" title="Argument from nonbelief">Nonbelief</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Theological_noncognitivism" title="Theological noncognitivism">Noncognitivism</a></li> <li><a class="mw-selflink selflink">Occam's razor</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Omnipotence_paradox" title="Omnipotence paradox">Omnipotence</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Argument_from_poor_design" title="Argument from poor design">Poor design</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Russell%27s_teapot" title="Russell's teapot">Russell's teapot</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr></tbody></table><div></div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%;text-align:center;"><a href="/wiki/Theology" title="Theology">Theology</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Acosmism" title="Acosmism">Acosmism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Agnosticism" title="Agnosticism">Agnosticism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Animism" title="Animism">Animism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Antireligion" title="Antireligion">Antireligion</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Atheism" title="Atheism">Atheism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Creationism" title="Creationism">Creationism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Dharma" title="Dharma">Dharmism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Deism" title="Deism">Deism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Demonology" title="Demonology">Demonology</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Divine_command_theory" title="Divine command theory">Divine command theory</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Dualism_in_cosmology" title="Dualism in cosmology">Dualism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Western_esotericism" title="Western esotericism">Esotericism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Exclusivism" title="Exclusivism">Exclusivism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Existentialism" title="Existentialism">Existentialism</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Christian_existentialism" title="Christian existentialism">Christian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Atheistic_existentialism" title="Atheistic existentialism">Atheistic</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Feminist_theology" title="Feminist theology">Feminist theology</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Thealogy" title="Thealogy">Thealogy</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Womanist_theology" title="Womanist theology">Womanist theology</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Fideism" title="Fideism">Fideism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Fundamentalism" title="Fundamentalism">Fundamentalism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Gnosticism" title="Gnosticism">Gnosticism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Henotheism" title="Henotheism">Henotheism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Humanism" title="Humanism">Humanism</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Religious_humanism" title="Religious humanism">Religious</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Secular_humanism" title="Secular humanism">Secular</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Christian_humanism" title="Christian humanism">Christian</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Inclusivism" title="Inclusivism">Inclusivism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Theories_about_religions" class="mw-redirect" title="Theories about religions">Theories about religions</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Monism" title="Monism">Monism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Monotheism" title="Monotheism">Monotheism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Mysticism" title="Mysticism">Mysticism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Naturalism_(philosophy)" title="Naturalism (philosophy)">Naturalism</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Metaphysical_naturalism" title="Metaphysical naturalism">Metaphysical</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Religious_naturalism" title="Religious naturalism">Religious</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Humanistic_naturalism" class="mw-redirect" title="Humanistic naturalism">Humanistic</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/New_Age" title="New Age">New Age</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Nondualism" title="Nondualism">Nondualism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Nontheism" title="Nontheism">Nontheism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Pandeism" title="Pandeism">Pandeism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Panentheism" title="Panentheism">Panentheism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Pantheism" title="Pantheism">Pantheism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Perennial_philosophy" title="Perennial philosophy">Perennialism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Polytheism" title="Polytheism">Polytheism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Possibilianism" title="Possibilianism">Possibilianism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Process_theology" title="Process theology">Process theology</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Religious_skepticism" title="Religious skepticism">Religious skepticism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Spiritualism_(beliefs)" title="Spiritualism (beliefs)">Spiritualism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Shamanism" title="Shamanism">Shamanism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/East_Asian_religions" title="East Asian religions">Taoic</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Theism" title="Theism">Theism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Transcendentalism" title="Transcendentalism">Transcendentalism</a></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/List_of_philosophies" title="List of philosophies">more...</a></i></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%;text-align:center;"><div style="display: inline-block; line-height: 1.2em; padding: .1em 0;"><a href="/wiki/Category:Philosophers_of_religion" title="Category:Philosophers of religion">Philosophers<br />of religion</a></div><br />(by date active)</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> </div><table class="nowraplinks navbox-subgroup" style="border-spacing:0"><tbody><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:4em;font-weight:normal;text-align:center;"><a href="/wiki/Ancient_Greek_philosophy" title="Ancient Greek philosophy">Ancient</a> and<br /><a href="/wiki/Medieval_philosophy" title="Medieval philosophy">medieval</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Anselm_of_Canterbury" title="Anselm of Canterbury">Anselm of Canterbury</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Augustine_of_Hippo" title="Augustine of Hippo">Augustine of Hippo</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Avicenna" title="Avicenna">Avicenna</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Averroes" title="Averroes">Averroes</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Boethius" title="Boethius">Boethius</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Gaudapada" title="Gaudapada">Gaudapada</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Gaunilo_of_Marmoutiers" title="Gaunilo of Marmoutiers">Gaunilo of Marmoutiers</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Giovanni_Pico_della_Mirandola" title="Giovanni Pico della Mirandola">Pico della Mirandola</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Heraclitus" title="Heraclitus">Heraclitus</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/James_VI_and_I" title="James VI and I">King James VI and I</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Marcion_of_Sinope" title="Marcion of Sinope">Marcion of Sinope</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Maimonides" title="Maimonides">Maimonides</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Adi_Shankara" title="Adi Shankara">Adi Shankara</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Thomas_Aquinas" title="Thomas Aquinas">Thomas Aquinas</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/William_of_Ockham" title="William of Ockham">William of Ockham</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:4em;font-weight:normal;text-align:center;"><a href="/wiki/Early_modern_philosophy" title="Early modern philosophy">Early modern</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Antoine_Augustin_Calmet" title="Antoine Augustin Calmet">Augustin Calmet</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Descartes" title="René Descartes">René Descartes</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Blaise_Pascal" title="Blaise Pascal">Blaise Pascal</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Desiderius_Erasmus" class="mw-redirect" title="Desiderius Erasmus">Desiderius Erasmus</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Baruch_Spinoza" title="Baruch Spinoza">Baruch Spinoza</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Nicolas_Malebranche" title="Nicolas Malebranche">Nicolas Malebranche</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Gottfried_Wilhelm_Leibniz" title="Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz">Gottfried W Leibniz</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/William_Wollaston" title="William Wollaston">William Wollaston</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Thomas_Chubb" title="Thomas Chubb">Thomas Chubb</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/David_Hume" title="David Hume">David Hume</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Baron_d%27Holbach" title="Baron d'Holbach">Baron d'Holbach</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Immanuel_Kant" title="Immanuel Kant">Immanuel Kant</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Johann_Gottfried_Herder" title="Johann Gottfried Herder">Johann G Herder</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:4em;font-weight:normal;text-align:center;">1800<br />1850</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Friedrich_Schleiermacher" title="Friedrich Schleiermacher">Friedrich Schleiermacher</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Karl_Christian_Friedrich_Krause" title="Karl Christian Friedrich Krause">Karl C F Krause</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Georg_Wilhelm_Friedrich_Hegel" title="Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel">Georg W F Hegel</a></li></ul> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Thomas_Carlyle" title="Thomas Carlyle">Thomas Carlyle</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/William_Whewell" title="William Whewell">William Whewell</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ludwig_Feuerbach" title="Ludwig Feuerbach">Ludwig Feuerbach</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/S%C3%B8ren_Kierkegaard" title="Søren Kierkegaard">Søren Kierkegaard</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Karl_Marx" title="Karl Marx">Karl Marx</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Albrecht_Ritschl" title="Albrecht Ritschl">Albrecht Ritschl</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Afrikan_Spir" title="Afrikan Spir">Afrikan Spir</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:4em;font-weight:normal;text-align:center;">1880<br />1900</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Ernst_Haeckel" title="Ernst Haeckel">Ernst Haeckel</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/William_Kingdon_Clifford" title="William Kingdon Clifford">W K Clifford</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche" title="Friedrich Nietzsche">Friedrich Nietzsche</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Harald_H%C3%B8ffding" title="Harald Høffding">Harald Høffding</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/William_James" title="William James">William James</a></li></ul> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Vladimir_Solovyov_(philosopher)" title="Vladimir Solovyov (philosopher)">Vladimir Solovyov</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ernst_Troeltsch" title="Ernst Troeltsch">Ernst Troeltsch</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Rudolf_Otto" title="Rudolf Otto">Rudolf Otto</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Lev_Shestov" title="Lev Shestov">Lev Shestov</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sergei_Bulgakov" title="Sergei Bulgakov">Sergei Bulgakov</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Pavel_Florensky" title="Pavel Florensky">Pavel Florensky</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ernst_Cassirer" title="Ernst Cassirer">Ernst Cassirer</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Joseph_Mar%C3%A9chal" title="Joseph Maréchal">Joseph Maréchal</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:4em;font-weight:normal;text-align:center;">1920<br />postwar</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/George_Santayana" title="George Santayana">George Santayana</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Bertrand_Russell" title="Bertrand Russell">Bertrand Russell</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Martin_Buber" title="Martin Buber">Martin Buber</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Gu%C3%A9non" title="René Guénon">René Guénon</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Paul_Tillich" title="Paul Tillich">Paul Tillich</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Karl_Barth" title="Karl Barth">Karl Barth</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Emil_Brunner" title="Emil Brunner">Emil Brunner</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Rudolf_Bultmann" title="Rudolf Bultmann">Rudolf Bultmann</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Gabriel_Marcel" title="Gabriel Marcel">Gabriel Marcel</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Reinhold_Niebuhr" title="Reinhold Niebuhr">Reinhold Niebuhr</a></li></ul> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Charles_Hartshorne" title="Charles Hartshorne">Charles Hartshorne</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Mircea_Eliade" title="Mircea Eliade">Mircea Eliade</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Frithjof_Schuon" title="Frithjof Schuon">Frithjof Schuon</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/J._L._Mackie" title="J. L. Mackie">J L Mackie</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Walter_Kaufmann_(philosopher)" title="Walter Kaufmann (philosopher)">Walter Kaufmann</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Martin_Lings" title="Martin Lings">Martin Lings</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Peter_Geach" title="Peter Geach">Peter Geach</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/George_I._Mavrodes" title="George I. Mavrodes">George I Mavrodes</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/William_Alston" title="William Alston">William Alston</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Antony_Flew" title="Antony Flew">Antony Flew</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:4em;font-weight:normal;text-align:center;">1970<br />1990<br />2010</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/William_L._Rowe" title="William L. Rowe">William L Rowe</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Dewi_Zephaniah_Phillips" title="Dewi Zephaniah Phillips">Dewi Z Phillips</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Alvin_Plantinga" title="Alvin Plantinga">Alvin Plantinga</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Anthony_Kenny" title="Anthony Kenny">Anthony Kenny</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Nicholas_Wolterstorff" title="Nicholas Wolterstorff">Nicholas Wolterstorff</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Richard_Swinburne" title="Richard Swinburne">Richard Swinburne</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Robert_Merrihew_Adams" title="Robert Merrihew Adams">Robert Merrihew Adams</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ravi_Zacharias" title="Ravi Zacharias">Ravi Zacharias</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Peter_van_Inwagen" title="Peter van Inwagen">Peter van Inwagen</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Daniel_Dennett" title="Daniel Dennett">Daniel Dennett</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Loyal_Rue" title="Loyal Rue">Loyal Rue</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Jean-Luc_Marion" title="Jean-Luc Marion">Jean-Luc Marion</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/William_Lane_Craig" title="William Lane Craig">William Lane Craig</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ali_Akbar_Rashad" title="Ali Akbar Rashad">Ali Akbar Rashad</a></li></ul> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Alexander_Pruss" title="Alexander Pruss">Alexander Pruss</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr></tbody></table><div> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%;text-align:center;">Related topics</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Criticism_of_religion" title="Criticism of religion">Criticism of religion</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Desacralization_of_knowledge" title="Desacralization of knowledge">Desacralization of knowledge</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ethics_in_religion" title="Ethics in religion">Ethics in religion</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Exegesis" title="Exegesis">Exegesis</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/History_of_religion" title="History of religion">History of religion</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Religion" title="Religion">Religion</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Problem_of_religious_language" title="Problem of religious language">Religious language</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Religious_philosophy" title="Religious philosophy">Religious philosophy</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Relationship_between_religion_and_science" title="Relationship between religion and science">Relationship between religion and science</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Faith_and_rationality" title="Faith and rationality">Faith and rationality</a></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Index_of_philosophy_of_religion_articles" title="Index of philosophy of religion articles">more...</a></i></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><td class="navbox-abovebelow" colspan="2"><div> <ul><li><span class="noviewer" typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/File:Symbol_portal_class.svg" class="mw-file-description" title="Portal"><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e2/Symbol_portal_class.svg/16px-Symbol_portal_class.svg.png" decoding="async" width="16" height="16" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e2/Symbol_portal_class.svg/23px-Symbol_portal_class.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e2/Symbol_portal_class.svg/31px-Symbol_portal_class.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="180" data-file-height="185" /></a></span> <a href="/wiki/Portal:Philosophy" title="Portal:Philosophy">Portal</a></li> <li><span class="noviewer" typeof="mw:File"><span title="Category"><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/96/Symbol_category_class.svg/16px-Symbol_category_class.svg.png" decoding="async" width="16" height="16" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/96/Symbol_category_class.svg/23px-Symbol_category_class.svg.png 1.5x, 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href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1239400231" /><div class="navbar plainlinks hlist navbar-mini"><ul><li class="nv-view"><a href="/wiki/Template:Catholic_philosophy_footer" title="Template:Catholic philosophy footer"><abbr title="View this template">v</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-talk"><a href="/wiki/Template_talk:Catholic_philosophy_footer" title="Template talk:Catholic philosophy footer"><abbr title="Discuss this template">t</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-edit"><a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Catholic_philosophy_footer" title="Special:EditPage/Template:Catholic philosophy footer"><abbr title="Edit this template">e</abbr></a></li></ul></div><div id="Catholic_philosophy436" style="font-size:114%;margin:0 4em"><a href="/wiki/Christian_philosophy" title="Christian philosophy">Catholic philosophy</a></div></th></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="background-color:gold;width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Catholic_moral_theology" title="Catholic moral theology">Ethics</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Cardinal_virtues" title="Cardinal virtues">Cardinal virtues</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Divine_command_theory" title="Divine command theory">Divine command</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Just_price" title="Just price">Just price</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Just_war_theory#Catholic_doctrine" title="Just war theory">Just war</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Catholic_probabilism" title="Catholic probabilism">Probabilism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Natural_law#Catholic_natural_law_jurisprudence" title="Natural law">Natural law</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Catholic_personalism" class="mw-redirect" title="Catholic personalism">Personalism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Seven_virtues" title="Seven virtues">Seven virtues</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Catholic_social_teaching" title="Catholic social teaching">Social teaching</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Option_for_the_poor" title="Option for the poor">Option for the poor</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Social_mortgage" title="Social mortgage">Social mortgage</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Theological_virtues" title="Theological virtues">Theological virtues</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Virtue_ethics" title="Virtue ethics">Virtue ethics</a></li></ul> </div></td><td class="noviewer navbox-image" rowspan="5" style="width:1px;padding:0 0 0 2px"><div><span typeof="mw:File"><span><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cd/Gentile_da_Fabriano_052.jpg/70px-Gentile_da_Fabriano_052.jpg" decoding="async" width="70" height="89" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cd/Gentile_da_Fabriano_052.jpg/105px-Gentile_da_Fabriano_052.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cd/Gentile_da_Fabriano_052.jpg/140px-Gentile_da_Fabriano_052.jpg 2x" data-file-width="754" data-file-height="963" /></span></span><br /><span typeof="mw:File"><span><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ce/JohnDunsScotus_-_full.jpg/70px-JohnDunsScotus_-_full.jpg" decoding="async" width="70" height="107" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ce/JohnDunsScotus_-_full.jpg/105px-JohnDunsScotus_-_full.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ce/JohnDunsScotus_-_full.jpg/140px-JohnDunsScotus_-_full.jpg 2x" data-file-width="314" data-file-height="479" /></span></span><br /><span typeof="mw:File"><span><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/70/William_of_Ockham.png/70px-William_of_Ockham.png" decoding="async" width="70" height="93" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/70/William_of_Ockham.png/105px-William_of_Ockham.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/70/William_of_Ockham.png/140px-William_of_Ockham.png 2x" data-file-width="271" data-file-height="361" /></span></span></div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="background-color:gold;width:1%">Schools</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"></div><table class="nowraplinks navbox-subgroup" style="border-spacing:0"><tbody><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="background-color:gold;width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Medieval_philosophy" title="Medieval philosophy">Medieval</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Augustinianism" title="Augustinianism">Augustinianism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Scholasticism" title="Scholasticism">Scholasticism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Thomism" title="Thomism">Thomism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Scotism" title="Scotism">Scotism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Occamism" title="Occamism">Occamism</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="background-color:gold;width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Modern_philosophy" title="Modern philosophy">Modern</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/School_of_Salamanca" title="School of Salamanca">Salamanca</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Christian_humanism" title="Christian humanism">Christian humanism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Cartesianism" title="Cartesianism">Cartesianism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Molinism" title="Molinism">Molinism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Neo-scholasticism" title="Neo-scholasticism">Neo-scholasticism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Analytical_Thomism" title="Analytical Thomism">Analytical Thomism</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="background-color:gold;width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Problem_of_universals" title="Problem of universals">Universals</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Platonic_realism" class="mw-redirect" title="Platonic realism">Augustinian realism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Nominalism" title="Nominalism">Nominalism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Conceptualism" title="Conceptualism">Conceptualism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Moderate_realism" title="Moderate realism">Moderate realism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Scotistic_realism" title="Scotistic realism">Scotistic realism</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="background-color:gold;width:1%">Other</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Intellectualism" title="Intellectualism">Theological intellectualism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Voluntarism_(philosophy)" title="Voluntarism (philosophy)">Theological voluntarism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Foundationalism" title="Foundationalism">Foundationalism</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr></tbody></table><div></div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="background-color:gold;width:1%"><a href="/wiki/List_of_Catholic_philosophers_and_theologians" title="List of Catholic philosophers and theologians">Philosophers</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Peter_Abelard" title="Peter Abelard">Abelard</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Mortimer_J._Adler" title="Mortimer J. Adler">Adler</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Albertus_Magnus" title="Albertus Magnus">Albertus</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Alcuin" title="Alcuin">Alcuin</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/G._E._M._Anscombe" title="G. E. M. Anscombe">Anscombe</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Anselm_of_Canterbury" title="Anselm of Canterbury">Anselm</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Thomas_Aquinas" title="Thomas Aquinas">Aquinas</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Augustine_of_Hippo" title="Augustine of Hippo">Augustine</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Roger_Bacon" title="Roger Bacon">Bacon</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Boethius" title="Boethius">Boethius</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Bonaventure" title="Bonaventure">Bonaventure</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois-Ren%C3%A9_de_Chateaubriand" title="François-René de Chateaubriand">Chateaubriand</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/G._K._Chesterton" title="G. K. Chesterton">Chesterton</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Clement_of_Alexandria" title="Clement of Alexandria">Clement</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Nicholas_of_Cusa" title="Nicholas of Cusa">Cusa</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Descartes" title="René Descartes">Descartes</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Pseudo-Dionysius_the_Areopagite" title="Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite">Dionysius</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Erasmus" title="Erasmus">Erasmus</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/John_Scotus_Eriugena" title="John Scotus Eriugena">Eriugena</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Marsilio_Ficino" title="Marsilio Ficino">Ficino</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Pierre_Gassendi" title="Pierre Gassendi">Gassendi</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Isidore_of_Seville" title="Isidore of Seville">Isidore</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ignacy_Krasicki" title="Ignacy Krasicki">Krasicki</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ramon_Llull" title="Ramon Llull">Llull</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Peter_Lombard" title="Peter Lombard">Lombard</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Alasdair_MacIntyre" title="Alasdair MacIntyre">MacIntyre</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Joseph_de_Maistre" title="Joseph de Maistre">Maistre</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Nicholas_Malebranche" class="mw-redirect" title="Nicholas Malebranche">Malebranche</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Jacques_Maritain" title="Jacques Maritain">Maritain</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Michel_de_Montaigne" title="Michel de Montaigne">Montaigne</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Thomas_More" title="Thomas More">More</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/John_Henry_Newman" title="John Henry Newman">Newman</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/William_of_Ockham" title="William of Ockham">Occam</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Blaise_Pascal" title="Blaise Pascal">Pascal</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Giovanni_Pico_della_Mirandola" title="Giovanni Pico della Mirandola">Pico</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Karl_Rahner" title="Karl Rahner">Rahner</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Pope_Benedict_XVI" title="Pope Benedict XVI">Ratzinger</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Max_Scheler" title="Max Scheler">Scheler</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Duns_Scotus" title="Duns Scotus">Scotus</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Edith_Stein" title="Edith Stein">Stein</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Francisco_Su%C3%A1rez" title="Francisco Suárez">Suárez</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Pope_John_Paul_II" title="Pope John Paul II">Wojtyła</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="background-color:gold;width:1%">Concepts</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Actus_essendi" title="Actus essendi">Actus Essendi</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Actus_primus" title="Actus primus">Actus primus</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Actus_purus" title="Actus purus">Actus purus</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Aevum" title="Aevum">Aevum</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Augustinianism" title="Augustinianism">Augustinian values</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Cardinal_virtues" title="Cardinal virtues">Cardinal virtues</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Mind%E2%80%93body_dualism" title="Mind–body dualism">Cartesian dualism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Cogito,_ergo_sum" title="Cogito, ergo sum">Cogito, ergo sum</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Dehellenization_of_Christianity" title="Dehellenization of Christianity">Dehellenization</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Differentia" title="Differentia">Differentia</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Disputation" title="Disputation">Disputation</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Divine_illumination" title="Divine illumination">Divine illumination</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Double_truth" title="Double truth">Double truth</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Evil_demon" title="Evil demon">Evil demon</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Formal_distinction" title="Formal distinction">Formal distinction</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Guardian_angel" title="Guardian angel">Guardian angel</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Haecceity" title="Haecceity">Haecceity</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/How_many_angels_can_dance_on_the_head_of_a_pin%3F" title="How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?">Head of a pin</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Homo_unius_libri" title="Homo unius libri">Homo unius libri</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Infused_righteousness" title="Infused righteousness">Infused righteousness</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Memento_mori#In_Europe_from_the_Medieval_era_to_the_Victorian_era" title="Memento mori">Memento mori</a></li> <li><a class="mw-selflink selflink">Occam's razor</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ontological_argument" title="Ontological argument">Ontological argument</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Pascal%27s_wager" title="Pascal's wager">Pascal's wager</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Peripatetic_axiom" title="Peripatetic axiom">Peripatetic axiom</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Principle_of_double_effect" title="Principle of double effect">Principle of double effect</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Quiddity" title="Quiddity">Quiddity</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Five_Ways_(Aquinas)" title="Five Ways (Aquinas)">Quinque viae</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ressentiment_(Scheler)" class="mw-redirect" title="Ressentiment (Scheler)">Ressentiment</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Rota_Fortunae" class="mw-redirect" title="Rota Fortunae">Rota Fortunae</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Seven_deadly_sins" title="Seven deadly sins">Seven deadly sins</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Scheler%27s_stratification_of_emotional_life" title="Scheler's stratification of emotional life">Stratification of emotional life</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Theodicy" title="Theodicy">Theodicy</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Augustinian_theodicy" title="Augustinian theodicy">Augustinian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Irenaean_theodicy" title="Irenaean theodicy">Irenaean</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Trademark_argument" title="Trademark argument">Trademark argument</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Univocity_of_being" title="Univocity of being">Univocity</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Utopia" title="Utopia">Utopia</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="background-color:gold;width:1%">Related</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Catholic_theology" title="Catholic theology">Catholic theology</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Platonism" title="Platonism">Platonism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Aristotelianism" title="Aristotelianism">Aristotelianism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Neoplatonism" title="Neoplatonism">Neoplatonism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Islamic_philosophy" title="Islamic philosophy">Islamic philosophy</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Doctor_of_the_Church" title="Doctor of the Church">Doctor of the Church</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Renaissance_humanism" title="Renaissance humanism">Renaissance</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Rationalism" title="Rationalism">Rationalism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Empiricism" title="Empiricism">Empiricism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Phenomenology_(philosophy)" title="Phenomenology (philosophy)">Phenomenology</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><td class="navbox-abovebelow" colspan="3" style="background-color:gold"><div> <ul><li><span class="nowrap"><span class="mw-image-border noviewer" typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/File:046CupolaSPietro.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><img alt="icon" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/046CupolaSPietro.jpg/16px-046CupolaSPietro.jpg" decoding="async" width="16" height="12" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/046CupolaSPietro.jpg/24px-046CupolaSPietro.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/046CupolaSPietro.jpg/32px-046CupolaSPietro.jpg 2x" data-file-width="800" data-file-height="600" /></a></span> </span><a href="/wiki/Portal:Catholicism" class="mw-redirect" title="Portal:Catholicism">Catholicism 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style="border-spacing:0;background:transparent;color:inherit"><tbody><tr><th scope="col" class="navbox-title" colspan="2"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374" /><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1239400231" /><div class="navbar plainlinks hlist navbar-mini"><ul><li class="nv-view"><a href="/wiki/Template:Narrative" title="Template:Narrative"><abbr title="View this template">v</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-talk"><a href="/wiki/Template_talk:Narrative" title="Template talk:Narrative"><abbr title="Discuss this template">t</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-edit"><a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Narrative" title="Special:EditPage/Template:Narrative"><abbr title="Edit this template">e</abbr></a></li></ul></div><div id="Narrative321" style="font-size:114%;margin:0 4em"><a href="/wiki/Narrative" title="Narrative">Narrative</a></div></th></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Character_(arts)" title="Character (arts)">Character</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Antagonist" title="Antagonist">Antagonist</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Archenemy" title="Archenemy">Archenemy</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Character_arc" title="Character arc">Character arc</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Character_flaw" title="Character flaw">Character flaw</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Characterization" title="Characterization">Characterization</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Confidant" title="Confidant">Confidant</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Deuteragonist" title="Deuteragonist">Deuteragonist</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/False_protagonist" title="False protagonist">False protagonist</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Focal_character" title="Focal character">Focal character</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Foil_(narrative)" title="Foil (narrative)">Foil</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Gothic_double" title="Gothic double">Gothic double</a></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Hamartia" title="Hamartia">Hamartia</a></i></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Hero" title="Hero">Hero</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Antihero" title="Antihero">Anti</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Byronic_hero" title="Byronic hero">Byronic</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Tragic_hero" title="Tragic hero">Tragic</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Narration" title="Narration">Narrator</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Protagonist" title="Protagonist">Protagonist</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Stock_character" title="Stock character">Stock character</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Straight_man" title="Straight man">Straight man</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Supporting_character" title="Supporting character">Supporting character</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Title_character" title="Title character">Title character</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Tritagonist" title="Tritagonist">Tritagonist</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Villain" title="Villain">Villain</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Plot_(narrative)" title="Plot (narrative)">Plot</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><i><a href="/wiki/Ab_ovo" title="Ab ovo">Ab ovo</a></i></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Action_(narrative)" title="Action (narrative)">Action</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Backstory" title="Backstory">Backstory</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Origin_story" title="Origin story">Origin story</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Chekhov%27s_gun" title="Chekhov's gun">Chekhov's gun</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Clich%C3%A9" title="Cliché">Cliché</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Cliffhanger" title="Cliffhanger">Cliffhanger</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Conflict_(narrative)" title="Conflict (narrative)">Conflict</a></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Deus_ex_machina" title="Deus ex machina">Deus ex machina</a></i></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Dialogue_in_writing" title="Dialogue in writing">Dialogue</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Dramatic_structure" class="mw-redirect" title="Dramatic structure">Dramatic structure</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Eucatastrophe" title="Eucatastrophe">Eucatastrophe</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Foreshadowing" title="Foreshadowing">Foreshadowing</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Flashback_(narrative)" title="Flashback (narrative)">Flashback</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Flashforward" title="Flashforward">Flashforward</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Frame_story" title="Frame story">Frame story</a></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/In_medias_res" title="In medias res">In medias res</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Kish%C5%8Dtenketsu" title="Kishōtenketsu">Kishōtenketsu</a></i></li> <li><a href="/wiki/MacGuffin" title="MacGuffin">MacGuffin</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Pace_(narrative)" title="Pace (narrative)">Pace</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Plot_device" title="Plot device">Plot device</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Plot_twist" title="Plot twist">Plot twist</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Poetic_justice" title="Poetic justice">Poetic justice</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Red_herring" title="Red herring">Red herring</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Reveal_(narrative)" title="Reveal (narrative)">Reveal</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Self-insertion" title="Self-insertion">Self-insertion</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Shaggy_dog_story" title="Shaggy dog story">Shaggy dog story</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Stereotype" title="Stereotype">Stereotype</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Story_arc" title="Story arc">Story arc</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Story_within_a_story" title="Story within a story">Story within a story</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Subplot" title="Subplot">Subplot</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Suspense" title="Suspense">Suspense</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Trope_(literature)" title="Trope (literature)">Trope</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Setting_(narrative)" title="Setting (narrative)">Setting</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Alternate_history" title="Alternate history">Alternate history</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Backstory" title="Backstory">Backstory</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Crossover_(fiction)" title="Crossover (fiction)">Crossover</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Dream_world_(plot_device)" title="Dream world (plot device)">Dreamworld</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Dystopia" title="Dystopia">Dystopia</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Fictional_location" title="Fictional location">Fictional location</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Fictional_city" class="mw-redirect" title="Fictional city">city</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Fictional_country" title="Fictional country">country</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Fictional_universe" title="Fictional universe">universe</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Parallel_universes_in_fiction" title="Parallel universes in fiction">parallel</a></li></ul></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Utopia" title="Utopia">Utopia</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Worldbuilding" title="Worldbuilding">Worldbuilding</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Theme_(narrative)" title="Theme (narrative)">Theme</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Irony" title="Irony">Irony</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Leitmotif" title="Leitmotif">Leitmotif</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Metaphor" title="Metaphor">Metaphor</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Moral" title="Moral">Moral</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Moral_development" title="Moral development">Moral development</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Motif_(narrative)" title="Motif (narrative)">Motif</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Deal_with_the_Devil" title="Deal with the Devil">Deal with the Devil</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Good_and_evil" title="Good and evil">Conflict between good and evil</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Self-fulfilling_prophecy" title="Self-fulfilling prophecy">Self-fulfilling prophecy</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Time_travel" title="Time travel">Time travel</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Writing_style" title="Writing style">Style</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Allegory" title="Allegory">Allegory</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Bathos" title="Bathos">Bathos</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Comic_relief" title="Comic relief">Comic relief</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Diction" title="Diction">Diction</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Figure_of_speech" title="Figure of speech">Figure of speech</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Imagery" title="Imagery">Imagery</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Mode_(literature)" title="Mode (literature)">Mode</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Mood_(literature)" title="Mood (literature)">Mood</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Narration" title="Narration">Narration</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_narrative_techniques" title="List of narrative techniques">Narrative techniques</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Narrative_hook" title="Narrative hook">Hook</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Show,_don%27t_tell" title="Show, don't tell">Show, don't tell</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Stylistic_device" title="Stylistic device">Stylistic device</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Suspension_of_disbelief" title="Suspension of disbelief">Suspension of disbelief</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Symbolism_(arts)" class="mw-redirect" title="Symbolism (arts)">Symbolism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Tone_(literature)" title="Tone (literature)">Tone</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Dramatic_structure" class="mw-redirect" title="Dramatic structure">Structure</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Act_(drama)" title="Act (drama)">Act</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Dramatic_structure" class="mw-redirect" title="Dramatic structure">Act structure</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Three-act_structure" title="Three-act structure">Three-act structure</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Freytag%27s_Pyramid" class="mw-redirect" title="Freytag's Pyramid">Freytag's Pyramid</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Exposition_(narrative)" title="Exposition (narrative)">Exposition</a>/<a href="/wiki/Protasis" title="Protasis">Protasis</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Epitasis" title="Epitasis">Rising action/Epitasis</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Climax_(narrative)" title="Climax (narrative)">Climax</a>/<a href="/wiki/Peripeteia" title="Peripeteia">Peripeteia</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Catastasis" title="Catastasis">Falling action/Catastasis</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Catastrophe_(drama)" title="Catastrophe (drama)">Denouement/Catastrophe</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Narrative_structure" class="mw-redirect" title="Narrative structure">Linear narrative</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Nonlinear_narrative" title="Nonlinear narrative">Nonlinear narrative</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/List_of_nonlinear_narrative_films" title="List of nonlinear narrative films">films</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_nonlinear_narrative_television_series" title="List of nonlinear narrative television series">television series</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Premise_(narrative)" title="Premise (narrative)">Premise</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Types_of_fiction_with_multiple_endings" title="Types of fiction with multiple endings">Types of fiction with multiple endings</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/List_of_narrative_forms" title="List of narrative forms">Form</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Drama" title="Drama">Drama</a></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Fabliau" title="Fabliau">Fabliau</a></i></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Flash_fiction" title="Flash fiction">Flash fiction</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Folklore" title="Folklore">Folklore</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Fable" title="Fable">Fable</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Fairy_tale" title="Fairy tale">Fairy tale</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Legend" title="Legend">Legend</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Myth" title="Myth">Myth</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Tall_tale" title="Tall tale">Tall tale</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Gamebook" title="Gamebook">Gamebook</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Narrative_art" title="Narrative art">Narrative art</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Narrative_poetry" title="Narrative poetry">Narrative poetry</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Epic_poetry" title="Epic poetry">Epic poetry</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Novel" title="Novel">Novel</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Novella" title="Novella">Novella</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Parable" title="Parable">Parable</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Short_story" title="Short story">Short story</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Vignette_(literature)" title="Vignette (literature)">Vignette</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Literary_genre" title="Literary genre">Genre</a><br />(<a href="/wiki/List_of_writing_genres" title="List of writing genres">List</a>)</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Fiction" title="Fiction">Fiction</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Action_fiction" title="Action fiction">Action fiction</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Adventure_fiction" title="Adventure fiction">Adventure</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Comic_novel" title="Comic novel">Comic</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Crime_fiction" title="Crime fiction">Crime</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Docufiction" title="Docufiction">Docu</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Epistolary_novel" title="Epistolary novel">Epistolary</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ergodic_literature" title="Ergodic literature">Ergodic</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Erotic_literature" title="Erotic literature">Erotic</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Historical_fiction" title="Historical fiction">Historical</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Western_fiction" title="Western fiction">Western</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Mystery_fiction" title="Mystery fiction">Mystery</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Nautical_fiction" title="Nautical fiction">Nautical</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Paranoid_fiction" title="Paranoid fiction">Paranoid</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Philosophical_fiction" title="Philosophical fiction">Philosophical</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Picaresque_novel" title="Picaresque novel">Picaresque</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Political_fiction" title="Political fiction">Political</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Pop_culture_fiction" title="Pop culture fiction">Pop culture</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Psychological_fiction" title="Psychological fiction">Psychological</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Inspirational_fiction" title="Inspirational fiction">Religious</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Rogue_literature" title="Rogue literature">Rogue</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Romance_novel" title="Romance novel">Romance</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Chivalric_romance" title="Chivalric romance">Chivalric</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Romance_(prose_fiction)" title="Romance (prose fiction)">Prose</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Saga" title="Saga">Saga</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Satire" title="Satire">Satire</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Speculative_fiction" title="Speculative fiction">Speculative fiction</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Fantasy" title="Fantasy">Fantasy</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Gothic_fiction" title="Gothic fiction">Gothic</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Southern_Gothic" title="Southern Gothic">Southern</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Horror_fiction" title="Horror fiction">Horror</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Magic_realism" class="mw-redirect" title="Magic realism">Magic realism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Science_fiction" title="Science fiction">Science</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Hard_science_fiction" title="Hard science fiction">Hard</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Utopian_and_dystopian_fiction" title="Utopian and dystopian fiction">Utopian and dystopian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_underwater_science_fiction_works" title="List of underwater science fiction works">Underwater</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Superhero_fiction" title="Superhero fiction">Superhero</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Theological_fiction" title="Theological fiction">Theological</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Thriller_(genre)" title="Thriller (genre)">Thriller</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Urban_fiction" title="Urban fiction">Urban</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Nonfiction" class="mw-redirect" title="Nonfiction">Nonfiction</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Autobiography" title="Autobiography">Autobiography</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Biography" title="Biography">Biography</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Non-fiction_novel" title="Non-fiction novel">Novel</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Creative_nonfiction" title="Creative nonfiction">Creative</a></li></ul></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Narration" title="Narration">Narration</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Diegesis" title="Diegesis">Diegesis</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/First-person_narrative" title="First-person narrative">First-person</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Second-person_narrative" class="mw-redirect" title="Second-person narrative">Second-person</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Third-person_narrative" class="mw-redirect" title="Third-person narrative">Third-person</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Third-person_omniscient_narrative" class="mw-redirect" title="Third-person omniscient narrative">Third-person omniscient narrative</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Narration#Subjective_or_objective" title="Narration">Subjectivity</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Unreliable_narrator" title="Unreliable narrator">Unreliable narrator</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Multiperspectivity" title="Multiperspectivity">Multiple narrators</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Stream_of_consciousness" title="Stream of consciousness">Stream of consciousness</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Stream_of_unconsciousness" title="Stream of unconsciousness">Stream of unconsciousness</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Grammatical_tense" title="Grammatical tense">Tense</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Past_tense" title="Past tense">Past</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Present_tense" title="Present tense">Present</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Future_tense" title="Future tense">Future</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Related</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Dominant_narrative" title="Dominant narrative">Dominant narrative</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Fiction_writing" title="Fiction writing">Fiction writing</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Continuity_(fiction)" title="Continuity (fiction)">Continuity</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Canon_(fiction)" title="Canon (fiction)">Canon</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Reboot_(fiction)" title="Reboot (fiction)">Reboot</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Retroactive_continuity" title="Retroactive continuity">Retcon</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Parallel_novel" title="Parallel novel">Parallel novel</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Prequel" title="Prequel">Prequel</a> / <a href="/wiki/Sequel" title="Sequel">Sequel</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Genre" title="Genre">Genre</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/List_of_genres" title="List of genres">List</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Literary_criticism" title="Literary criticism">Literary science</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Literary_theory" title="Literary theory">Literary theory</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Narrative_identity" title="Narrative identity">Narrative identity</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Narrative_paradigm" title="Narrative paradigm">Narrative paradigm</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Narrative_therapy" title="Narrative therapy">Narrative therapy</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Narratology" title="Narratology">Narratology</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Metafiction" title="Metafiction">Metafiction</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Political_narrative" title="Political narrative">Political narrative</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Rhetoric" title="Rhetoric">Rhetoric</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Glossary_of_rhetorical_terms" title="Glossary of rhetorical terms">Glossary</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Screenwriting" title="Screenwriting">Screenwriting</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Template:Works_series" title="Template:Works series">Series of works</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Storytelling" title="Storytelling">Storytelling</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Tellability" title="Tellability">Tellability</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Verisimilitude_(fiction)" title="Verisimilitude (fiction)">Verisimilitude</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <div class="navbox-styles"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374" /><link 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