Single Idea 6106

[catalogued under 2. Reason / B. Laws of Thought / 6. Ockham's Razor]

Full Idea

You diminish the risk of error with every diminution of entities and premisses.

Clarification

'Entities' are things which are proposed as existing

Gist of Idea

Reducing entities and premisses makes error less likely

Source

Bertrand Russell (The Philosophy of Logical Atomism [1918], §VIII)

Book Reference

Russell,Bertrand: 'Russell's Logical Atomism', ed/tr. Pears,David [Fontana 1972], p.140


A Reaction

If there are actually lots of entities, you would increase error if you reduced them too much. Ockham's Razor seems more to do with the limited capacity of the human mind than with the simplicity or complexity of reality. See Idea 4456.

Related Idea

Idea 4456 Epistemological Ockham's Razor demands good reasons, but the ontological version says reality is simple [Moreland]