Do not revise Ockham's razor without necessity

Ockham’s razor asks that we not multiply entities beyond necessity. The razor is a powerful methodological tool, enabling us to articulate reasons for preferring one theory to another. There are those, however, who would modify the razor. Schaffer (2010: 313—our italics), for one, tells us that, ‘I...

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Main Authors: Baron, Sam, Tallant, Jonathan
Format: Article
Published: Wiley 2018
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/35006/
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author Baron, Sam
Tallant, Jonathan
author_facet Baron, Sam
Tallant, Jonathan
author_sort Baron, Sam
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Ockham’s razor asks that we not multiply entities beyond necessity. The razor is a powerful methodological tool, enabling us to articulate reasons for preferring one theory to another. There are those, however, who would modify the razor. Schaffer (2010: 313—our italics), for one, tells us that, ‘I think the proper rendering of Ockham’s razor should be ‘Do not multiply fundamental entities without necessity’. Our aim, here, is to challenge such re-workings of Ockham’s razor.
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spelling nottingham-350062020-05-04T19:37:56Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/35006/ Do not revise Ockham's razor without necessity Baron, Sam Tallant, Jonathan Ockham’s razor asks that we not multiply entities beyond necessity. The razor is a powerful methodological tool, enabling us to articulate reasons for preferring one theory to another. There are those, however, who would modify the razor. Schaffer (2010: 313—our italics), for one, tells us that, ‘I think the proper rendering of Ockham’s razor should be ‘Do not multiply fundamental entities without necessity’. Our aim, here, is to challenge such re-workings of Ockham’s razor. Wiley 2018-05-30 Article PeerReviewed Baron, Sam and Tallant, Jonathan (2018) Do not revise Ockham's razor without necessity. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 96 (3). pp. 596-619. ISSN 1933-1592 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/phpr.12337/full doi:10.1111/phpr.12337 doi:10.1111/phpr.12337
spellingShingle Baron, Sam
Tallant, Jonathan
Do not revise Ockham's razor without necessity
title Do not revise Ockham's razor without necessity
title_full Do not revise Ockham's razor without necessity
title_fullStr Do not revise Ockham's razor without necessity
title_full_unstemmed Do not revise Ockham's razor without necessity
title_short Do not revise Ockham's razor without necessity
title_sort do not revise ockham's razor without necessity
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/35006/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/35006/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/35006/