Philosophical razor: Difference between revisions
Content deleted Content added
m Reverted edits by 2A02:8085:B13F:2480:8588:D182:5DB5:DBDC (talk) to last version by Swiftkick |
Citation bot (talk | contribs) Alter: url. URLs might have been anonymized. Add: s2cid, jstor, doi, authors 1-1. Removed parameters. Some additions/deletions were parameter name changes. | Use this bot. Report bugs. | Suggested by AManWithNoPlan | #UCB_CommandLine |
||
| Line 36: | Line 36: | ||
Razors include: |
Razors include: |
||
*[[Occam's razor]]: Simpler explanations are more likely to be correct; avoid unnecessary or improbable assumptions. |
*[[Occam's razor]]: Simpler explanations are more likely to be correct; avoid unnecessary or improbable assumptions. |
||
*[[Albert Einstein|Einstein's]] razor: "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."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Einstein |first=Albert |date=1934 |title=On the Method of Theoretical Physics |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/184387 |journal=Philosophy of Science |volume=1 |issue=2 |pages=165 [163–169] |issn=0031-8248}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Mettenheim |first=Christoph von |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hLSR2or-bGAC |title=Popper Versus Einstein: On the Philosophical Foundations of Physics |date=1998 |publisher= |isbn=978-3-16-146910-7 |pages=34 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book | |
*[[Albert Einstein|Einstein's]] razor: "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."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Einstein |first=Albert |date=1934 |title=On the Method of Theoretical Physics |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/184387 |journal=Philosophy of Science |volume=1 |issue=2 |pages=165 [163–169] |doi=10.1086/286316 |jstor=184387 |s2cid=44787169 |issn=0031-8248}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Mettenheim |first=Christoph von |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hLSR2or-bGAC |title=Popper Versus Einstein: On the Philosophical Foundations of Physics |date=1998 |publisher= |isbn=978-3-16-146910-7 |pages=34 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Geis |first1=Gilbert |url=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 |title=Crimes of the Century: From Leopold and Loeb to O.J. Simpson |last2=Geis |first2=Professor Emeritus of Criminology Law and & Society Gilbert |last3=Bienen |first3=Leigh B. |date=1998 |publisher=UPNE |isbn=978-1-55553-360-1 |pages=39 |language=en}}</ref> Often paraphrased as "make things as simple as possible, but no simpler." |
||
*[[Hanlon's razor]]: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/H/Hanlons-Razor.html|title=Hanlon's Razor|work=[[The Jargon File]] 4.4.7|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110430025318/http://catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/H/Hanlons-Razor.html#|archive-date=2011-04-30|accessdate=2014-02-25}}</ref> |
*[[Hanlon's razor]]: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/H/Hanlons-Razor.html|title=Hanlon's Razor|work=[[The Jargon File]] 4.4.7|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110430025318/http://catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/H/Hanlons-Razor.html#|archive-date=2011-04-30|accessdate=2014-02-25}}</ref> |
||
*[[Hitchens's razor]]: That which can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780191826719.001.0001/q-oro-ed4-00004248 |title=Oxford Essential Quotations: Facts |date=2016 |website=Oxford Reference |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780191826719 |editor-last=Ratcliffe |editor-first=Susan |edition=4 |quote=What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence. |access-date=4 November 2020}}</ref> |
*[[Hitchens's razor]]: That which can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780191826719.001.0001/q-oro-ed4-00004248 |title=Oxford Essential Quotations: Facts |date=2016 |website=Oxford Reference |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780191826719 |editor-last=Ratcliffe |editor-first=Susan |edition=4 |quote=What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence. |access-date=4 November 2020}}</ref> |
||
Revision as of 01:04, 30 January 2023
In philosophy, a razor is a principle or rule of thumb that allows one to eliminate ("shave off") unlikely explanations for a phenomenon, or avoid unnecessary actions.[1][2][3]
Razors include:
- Occam's razor: Simpler explanations are more likely to be correct; avoid unnecessary or improbable assumptions.
- Einstein's razor: "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."[4][5][6] Often paraphrased as "make things as simple as possible, but no simpler."
- Hanlon's razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.[7]
- Hitchens's razor: That which can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.[8]
- Hume's guillotine: What ought to be cannot be deduced from what is. "If the cause, assigned for any effect, be not sufficient to produce it, we must either reject that cause, or add to it such qualities as will give it a just proportion to the effect."[9][10]
- Alder's razor (also known as Newton's Flaming Laser Sword[11]): If something cannot be settled by experiment or observation, then it is not worthy of debate.[11]
- Sagan standard: Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
- Popper's falsifiability principle: For a theory to be considered scientific, it must be falsifiable.[12]
- Grice's razor (also known as Giume's razor): As a principle of parsimony, conversational implications are to be preferred over semantic context for linguistic explanations.[13][14]
See also
- Abductive reasoning – Inference seeking the simplest and most likely explanation
- Duck test – Classification based on observable evidence
- Explanatory power – Ability of a theory to explain a subject
- Marcello Truzzi § "Extraordinary claims"
- Morgan's Canon – Law of parsimony in comparative (animal) psychology
- Morton's fork – False dilemma in which contradictory observations lead to the same conclusion
- Occam's razor § Anti-razors
- Zebra (medicine) – Exotic diagnosis in medicine which is usually unnecessary and wrong
References
- ^ Garg, A. (17 May 2010). "Occam's razor". A.Word.A.Day. Archived from the original on 2014-03-09. Retrieved 2014-02-25.
- ^ Downie, R. S. (November 1989). "Moral Philosophy". In Eatwell, John; Milgate, Murray; Newman, Peter (eds.). The Invisible Hand. Palgrave MacMillan. pp. 213–222. ISBN 9781349203130.
- ^ McLean, Sheila A. M., ed. (2013). First do No Harm: Law, Ethics and Healthcare. Ashgate. ISBN 9781409496199.
- ^ Einstein, Albert (1934). "On the Method of Theoretical Physics". Philosophy of Science. 1 (2): 165 [163–169]. doi:10.1086/286316. ISSN 0031-8248. JSTOR 184387. S2CID 44787169.
- ^ Mettenheim, Christoph von (1998). Popper Versus Einstein: On the Philosophical Foundations of Physics. p. 34. ISBN 978-3-16-146910-7.
- ^ Geis, Gilbert; Geis, Professor Emeritus of Criminology Law and & Society Gilbert; Bienen, Leigh B. (1998). Crimes of the Century: From Leopold and Loeb to O.J. Simpson. UPNE. p. 39. ISBN 978-1-55553-360-1.
- ^ "Hanlon's Razor". The Jargon File 4.4.7. Archived from the original on 2011-04-30. Retrieved 2014-02-25.
- ^ Ratcliffe, Susan, ed. (2016). Oxford Essential Quotations: Facts (4 ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780191826719. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence.
{{cite book}}:|website=ignored (help) - ^ Miles, M. (2003). Inroads: Paths in Ancient and Modern Western Philosophy. University of Toronto Press. p. 543. ISBN 978-0802037442.
- ^ Forrest, P. (2001). "Counting the cost of modal realism". In Preyer, G.; Siebelt, F. (eds.). Reality and Humean Supervenience: Essays on the Philosophy of David Lewis. Studies in Epistemology and Cognitive Theory. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 93. ISBN 978-0742512016.
- ^ a b Mike Alder (2004). "Newton's Flaming Laser Sword". Philosophy Now. 46: 29–33. Archived from the original on 2017-12-04. Retrieved 2018-01-26.
- Also available as Mike Alder (2004). "Newton's Flaming Laser Sword" (PDF). Mike Alder's Home Page. University of Western Australia. Archived from the original on 14 November 2011.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
- Also available as Mike Alder (2004). "Newton's Flaming Laser Sword" (PDF). Mike Alder's Home Page. University of Western Australia. Archived from the original on 14 November 2011.
- ^ Popper, Karl (1972). The Logic of Scientific Discovery. Hutchinson. ISBN 9780091117207.
- ^ Hazlett, A. (2007). "Grice's razor". Metaphilosophy. 38 (5): 669. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9973.2007.00512.x.
- ^ "Implicature, 6. Gricean Theory". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Archived from the original on 2016-12-11. Retrieved 2016-12-27.
 | This philosophy-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |