Occam's razor

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William of Occam
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William of Occam

Occam's razor (or Ockham's razor) is a principle. It simply means that the simplest explanation is usually the best one. It is attributed to William of Ockham, who was a logician and Franciscan friar in the 14th century.


The principle says that if there are several reasons for a something happening, that reason which makes less assumptions is most likely the best one. In Latin this is often called lex parsimoniae, the law of succinctness:

entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem

this can be translated to:

entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity

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