(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Critical Thinking Bootcamp: Occam's Razor [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-05-05 Good day, folks! Time for another Bootcamp entry, this time about critical thinking in general and about a tool that is oft quoted but also a bit misunderstood: Occam’s Razor, also called the Principal of Parsimony. Let’s start some quick background to learn who William of Occam (or Ockham) was and go from there. Stained glass window representation of William of Ockham. William of Occam was a Franciscan friar and philosopher of the Middle Ages. Born in Ockham, Surrey, England in 1287, William studied at Oxford (though never received his Masters degree). William wrote various commentaries on Peter Lombard’s Sentences that were not well received by the Church — to the point of earning him an “invitation” to Avignon (this was the period when the Papacy was seated in Avignon, France instead of Rome) to explain himself in front of a Papal court for possible heresy. I won’t go into the all the ins and outs of Medieval Papal politics and theology (because I’m writing a Dkos diary, not trying for a PhD or three), but suffice it to say that William of Occam spent his life in conflict with the Papacy of Pope John XXII (William was eventually excommunicated) and mostly living under the protection of the Holy Roman Emperor and died in Munich in 1347. But during his life he continued to write on theology and what was then called natural philosophy (which eventually evolved into modern science). (As an aside, Umberto Ecco’s The Name of the Rose uses the historical events of this period as a backdrop and some key plot elements. IMO an excellent mystery novel (and was also developed into a movie starring Sean Connery). Most people I know either love it or loathe it. It’s probably time for me to give it another read, it’s been a few years.) Anyway, in the course of his writings William developed a concept (well, further developed — he was actually not the first to think along these lines) that became known for him — Occam’s Razor. And it is a concept that is often misunderstood and misapplied. In modern terms, it’s often paraphrased as “The simplest explanation is usually the best one.” That’s punchy….but not quite right. A better way to phrase it is “The explanation with the fewest assumptions is the best.” That is, a complex hypothesis with established and proven pieces is preferable to a hypothesis that might be simpler, but requires more unproven assumptions to be made. It’s a subtle but important distinction to make. Otherwise, things like “the Earth is flat” or “because ghosts” potentially might be the “simplest explanation” but also be very, very wrong. So if you have competing hypotheses, the best choice is to go with the one requiring the fewest assumptions to be made. And as an add-on to that, don’t make your own hypotheses more complicated than it needs to be and don’t stack on new assumptions if they’re not necessary. To quote Isaac Newton centuries after William’s time, “We are to admit no more causes of natural things than such as are both true and sufficient to explain their appearances.” This captures the essence of Occam’s Razor rather succinctly. There is also a saying that runs along the lines of “If you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras.” This also captures the essence of Occam’s Razor in encouraging not rushing to unlikely scenarios to explain something and to start with more mundane explanations that require fewer assumptions. But be aware that Occam’s Razor is NOT foolproof. Obviously, if you’re on safari in Africa, those hoofbeats just might be zebras after all. For a doctor, the initial hypothesis that you’ve got a cold might be the go-to usage of Occam’s Razor based on your symptoms at the time, but eventually it may be determined that you have some more uncommon condition. But it’s proper to START with Occam’s Razor, examine that simpler hypothesis and see if it holds up. So even as you might be applying the Razor to trim things down to their essence, just be aware and keep an open mind. It is a critical thinking tool, and like any tool, needs to be used properly. Until next time folks! Prior Bootcamp Installments Logical Fallacies Bootcamp: The Strawman The Slippery Slope Begging the Question Poisoning the Well No True Scotsman! Ad Hominem False Dilemma Non Sequitur Red Herring Gamblers Fallacy Bandwagon Fallacy Appeal to Fear The Fallacy Fallacy Appeal to Personal Incredulity Appeal to Authority Special Pleading Texas Sharpshooter Post Hoc Appeal to Nature Furtive Fallacy Alphabet Soup Middle Ground Relative Privation Cognitive Bias Bootcamp: Bystander Effect Curse of Knowledge Barnum Effect Declinism In-Group Bias Hindsight Bias Survivor Bias Rhyme-as-Reason Effect Apophenia (& Paradoleia) The Dunning-Kruger Effect Confirmation Bias Anchoring Bias Critical Thinking Bootcamp: Sea Lioning Occam’s Razor [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/5/5/2167456/-Critical-Thinking-Bootcamp-Occam-s-Razor Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/