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Assignment Topic: Occam's Razor

Categories: Literature

  • Words: 1178

Published: Jun 27, 2024

Occam’s razor also referred to as the Principle of Parsimony is a great idea that suggests ongoing for the simpler explanation rather than the complicated one which in general are better (Braithwaite). For instance, if you have two theories possibly that are fit enough for the evidence available, the best theory becomes the one with fewer assumptions. In this essay we will discuss by writing a precise for the Occam’s razor reading what it is all about.

Fitting of all evidence is important since at times the Occam’s razor may not account for the evidence but just the fact of the simplest explanation. In such a case, we go for an explanation that accounts for both the agreement and evidence. A simpler explanation, in this case, does not imply that it is easy to explain but simply means what has few moving parts for instance and equations variables, fewer abstract ideas, or even fewer guesses. No wonder the rule is also referred to as the "Principle of Parsimony" Parsimony, in this case, refers to the frugality or thrifts, and therefore when a person is termed as parsimonious means that he/she is very careful with money (Braithwaite ). Moreover, Occam’s razor is not a law but just a general rule of the thumb. Scientists and philosophers are the most reliant on this in designing their arguments and experiments.

It has two famous quotes. One is the E=MC2. The equation describes the rate of conversion of matter (M) into energy (E) It's a straightforward mathematical formula with just 2 variables, one is famously known as number (the light speed), a few multiplications, and an exponent. The second quote is Aristotle's Posterior Analytics which states that "Other things being equal, a preference of demonstration is derived from lesser postulation or hypothesis. One of the earliest known texts on logic in the West was written by Aristotle. One of its guiding principles is a variation on Occam's Razor. According to Aristotle, the proof is more convincing if it makes fewer assumptions (Rasmussen et al., p. 298).

The importance of Occam 's razor is that this principle is a problem-solving principle that serves just like a useful mental aid.it is used to eliminate improbable options of a particular given situation and is so far the best-known example (Rasmussen et al., p. 298). In one south park Episode, the boys pay a visit to John Edward, a person who claims to be able to communicate with the dead. Stan believes it's all a ruse, and he is determined to prove it. Which is more of a parsimonious explanation? Is it that magical powers exist and John possesses them? And no one else? Or they don't exist and john has just learned new stages of tricks psychologically? (Domingos, p. 420).

The controversies of the principle sets in when two parties in a debate believe that both are on Occam’s razor side. The reason is simply that people do not always agree on the simplest explanation (Jefferys et al., p. 66). For example atheists versus theists. Atheists argue that a theistic universe contains rocks, trees, flowers, and so on, in addition to God. On the other hand, theists believe that Believers assert that when there is a god, the world is more frugal. They contend that atheists must develop complicated ideas to explain awareness, morality, and other phenomena. In summary, Occam’s principle is one of its kind. So far it is recognized and the best example for doing the simplest things and this phenomenon is accepted widely even by scientists and philosophers.

Works cited

  • Braithwaite, Jason J. "Occam's razor: The principle of parsimony." Academia.  edu (2007).
  • Domingos, Pedro. "The role of Occam's razor in knowledge discovery." Data mining and knowledge discovery 3.4 (1999): 409-425.
  • Jefferys, William H., and James 0. Berger. "Ockham's razor and Bayesian analysis." American Scientist 80.1 (1992): 64-72.
  • Rasmussen, Carl Edward, and Zoubin Ghahramani. "Occam's razor." Advances in neural information processing systems (2001): 294-300.

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