What is the essence of the principle of Occam's razor and is it worth applying it in life

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Cutting off everything unnecessary is not always the best option.

How Occam's Razor came into being and what it means

Occam's Razor is a rule in science and philosophy, according to which the simplest should be chosen from several possible, equally complete explanations of something.

Also, according to this principle, any new phenomenon can be described using already known terms and concepts. That is why Occam's razor is often called the law of economy or thrift.

This principle is applied in many disciplines, such as religion, physics, medicine and more. However, in science, Occam's razor is not a rigid rule, but rather a recommendation or an algorithm of actions under certain conditions.

The most famous is the following formulation:

Entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity.

That is, the principle proposes to cut off all unnecessary - hence the word "razor" in the title. The second part of the term comes from the name of the 14th century English Franciscan monk William Ockham (1285-1347 / 49).

He studied at Oxford, taught philosophy at the school of Franciscan monks for several years. Later, Ockham was accused of heresy and until the end of his life he hid from the church court in Munich at the court of the German emperor, the enemy of the Pope, Louis IV of Bavaria.

Occam is, by the way, not a surname, but the name of a small village in Surrey where the theologian lived. So it is correct to say William of Occam.

Do not think that it was Ockham who created the "razor". The idea of taking advantage of simple solutions existed Amnuel P. Don't cut yourself with Occam's razor. Science and life since the time of Aristotle. The theologians Durand de Saint-Pursen and John Duns Scotus formulated the law of economy itself before Ockham. And Scott's ideas did have a serious impact on his views.

However, it was Ockham who became one of the most ardent adherents of the law of thrift. The monk refused to accept the vague, in his opinion, logic of his contemporaries - medieval philosophers-theologians. He strove to separate knowledge from faith. For example, he denied accidents and generalizing concepts, and also tried to prove that everything happens by the will of God.

Proceeding from this, Ockham suggested "not to multiply the essence", although in the form we know, he did not use this phrase in any of his works.

Occam's Razor is believed to be a reformulated Law of Sufficient Cause. According to him, only a proven statement can be considered true.

This zealous adherence to the idea of cutting off all that is unnecessary inspired the Scottish philosopher of the 19th century William Hamilton to create a modern name for the principle. It became popular, although before that for several centuries the law of economy had nothing to do with Occam's name.

Isaac Newton, Bertrand Russell, Albert Einstein and many other scientists later expounded their interpretations of his ideas.

Is Occam's razor principle applicable in everyday life?

When its use is justified

There is such an example Amnuel P. Do not cut yourself with Occam's razor. Science and life of Occam's razor: when Napoleon Bonaparte asked the famous French mathematician Pierre-Simon Laplace why there is no god in his model of the solar system, he allegedly replied: "This hypothesis, sire, I did not need."

It is believed that this is how the mathematician demonstrated the law of economy in action: why look for a higher force in the Universe, if the motion of cosmic bodies can be explained by the laws of mechanics?

Today, for example, Occam's razor is used in evolutionary biology, whose specialists are trying to build a model of evolution that provides for the least amount of genetic change. However, this application of the principle is controversial.

Nevertheless, there are many examples where this rule works. For example, in 2015, employees of the University of Pennsylvania published the results of a study, according to which the complexity of economic forecasts does not increase their accuracy. Moreover, simple predictions reduced the probability of error by 27%.

Another simple example is given by medicine: if a patient comes to the doctor with a runny nose, then he most likely has a cold, and not a rare disease of the immune system.

Moreover, the Soviet-Israeli astrophysicist and popularizer of science Pavel Amnuel considers Amnuel P. Do not cut yourself with Occam's razor. Science and life, that people, without knowing it, constantly use Occam's razor in everyday life. The scientist gives such examples of everyday variants of the law of thrift:

• Of the two evils, the lesser is chosen.
• It is necessary to solve problems as they come in.
• If something can be done in a simple way, then it should be done.

When this principle is not applicable

Despite this, Occam's razor is often criticized. In particular, his opponents say that he prioritizes simplicity over precision.

At the same time, the very concept of "simplicity" is difficult to define, and therefore it is not the most reliable basis for comparison.

Also, Occam's razor can enter Amnuel P. Don't cut yourself with Occam's razor. Science and life in contradiction with many other scientific postulates. For example, with the principle of relativity - one of the fundamental in natural science. According to him, the laws of nature are not so immutable and eternal.

Also, the provisions of classical mechanics do not operate at the quantum level (in atoms and elementary particles), although, according to the "razor", they should do this.

Therefore, as in science, in life the principle of Occam's razor also sometimes turns out to be inapplicable. For example, fundamental discoveries that fundamentally changed the picture of the world - like Copernicus's model of the solar system or Einstein's theory of relativity - directly violate the law of frugality.

If Christopher Columbus had acted according to Occam's principle, he would not have gone Amnuel P. Don't cut yourself with Occam's razor. Science and life to India bypassing the existing sea route around Africa. And then America would not have been open.

Likewise, following the rule of "Do not produce multiplicity" would prevent new inventions from emerging, such as steam locomotives, steamships, or rockets.

That is, mindlessly cutting off everything in a row with Occam's razor can discard many advanced ideas.

The multiplication of entities is a creative and innovative process, without which great scientists would not be. Likewise, life sometimes requires a person to abandon all his previous experience and make an unexpected decision in order to move to a qualitatively new level.

Therefore, Occam's razor is not a universal decision-making tool. This principle works well for repetitive and routine activities, but can sometimes fail.

In this sense, the rule that Albert Einstein came up with is much more applicable: "Everything should be simplified as long as possible, but no more."