more from John Heil

Single Idea 7037

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

Full Idea

A commitment to parsimony is not a commitment to a conception of the world as simple. The idea, rather, is that we should not complicate our theories about the world unnecessarily.

Clarification

'Parsimony' is meanness - keeping things basic

Gist of Idea

Parsimony does not imply the world is simple, but that our theories should try to be

Source

John Heil (From an Ontological Point of View [2003], 13.6)

Book Reference

Heil,John: 'From an Ontological Point of View' [OUP 2005], p.146


A Reaction

In other words, Ockham's Razor is about us, not about the world. It would be absurd to make the a priori assumption that the world has to be simple. Are we, though, creating bad theories by insisting that they should be simple?