So what do you reckon old Bill would make of the multiverse? I reckon he’s be turning in his grave. — Wayfarer

doesn’t apply to the Universe?

Actually on a more serious note, there’s something your OP doesn’t say, which is what the types of ‘entities’ were that Ockham had in mind. It was something of high philosophical significance. Any guesses as to what? — Wayfarer

What else could "entities" mean? — TheMadFool

There is an answer to that, which is highly specific to William of Ockham and his place in intellectual history. Hint: it is mentioned precisely once in the Wikipedia article on his Razor. — Wayfarer

Occam's razor says that when presented with competing hypotheses that make the same predictions, one should select the solution with the fewest assumptions, and it is not meant to be a way of choosing between hypotheses that make different predictions. — wikipedia

"There is more to Occam's Razor than meets the eye" is a perfectly meaningful statement. :chin: — TheMadFool

Occam's Razor is not an ontological hypothesis. It is not suggesting that simplicty is more likely to be true (because things are more likely to be simple, say). It is a methodoligical suggestion that we NOT add entities if it does not add anything. That is, given the choice between two explanations that both work, take the one with the least entities. — Coben

It is sometimes paraphrased by a statement like "the simplest solution is most likely the right one" — wikipedia

"We may assume the superiority ceteris paribus [other things being equal] of the demonstration which derives from fewer postulates or hypotheses." — wikipedia

It is sometimes paraphrased by a statement like "the simplest solution is most likely the right one" — wikipedia

"We may assume the superiority ceteris paribus [other things being equal] of the demonstration which derives from fewer postulates or hypotheses." — wikipedia

Actually on a more serious note, there’s something your OP doesn’t say, which is what the types of ‘entities’ were that Ockham had in mind. It was something of high philosophical significance. Any guesses as to what? — Wayfarer

Like Macbeth, Western man made an evil decision, which has become the efficient and final cause of other evil decisions. Have we forgotten our encounter with the witches on the heath? It occurred in the late fourteenth century, and what the witches said to the protagonist of this drama was that man could realize himself more fully if he would only abandon his belief in the existence of transcendentals. The powers of darkness were working subtly, as always, and they couched this proposition in the seemingly innocent form of an attack upon universals. The defeat of logical realism in the great medieval debate was the crucial event in the history of Western culture; from this flowed those acts which issue now in modern decadence.

1. The fact that a hypothesis is considered adequate only when all observations have been explained - the hypothesis has to be complete. — TheMadFool

He doesn't disregard it, he does say that many people do. And again this has little to do with Occam no intending to make an ontological claim, but rather methodological suggestion — Coben

No, you do that :smile: — Coben

But the 'entities' which Ockham wished to eliminate were indeed universals. — Wayfarer

Me too. — Coben

That's exactly it, We disagree with each other. Every person in every thread could say to people they disagree with 'study X harder', but it's essentially an ad hom. — Coben

It's an implicit claim about me, not my arguments. You haven't read the OR. You haven't read it well enough or you would agree with me.

That's to the man.

You claiming to know what I didn't do. You are focusing on me or your assumptions about me, rather than what I have written, my points and arguments, etc. Here implying I haven't read what I should have read.

It's rude. A small rudeness, in this case, .

Take care, good day. — Coben

Indeed and these universals would qualify as postulates, no? — TheMadFool

It's not that simple — Wayfarer

What's happened is that Ockham's idea was appropriated by later generations in a completely different context. It is now reduced to a principle of explanatory parsimony but in its original context it was about a much larger issue. — Wayfarer