OCKHAMS' RAZOR
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(2) |
| ID | ◀ 2343 ▶ |
| Object type | General information, Epistemology, ontology or semantics, Methodology or model |
The exigency to explain any result - experimental or conceptual - using the smallest possible number of concepts . (Adapted from P. CHECKLAND, 1976, p. 28)
This method and philosophical principle is attributed to William of OCKHAM, the 14th Century's english monk philosopher.
The principle can be applied to “top down ”explanations as well as to “bottom up ” ones. This means that it should not be invoked to justify exclusively reductionist or systemic-holistic viewpoints. These in fact reflect an asymmetrical complementarity .
While very different, Ockham's Razor could be compared with G. CHAITIN's “algorithmic complexity ”, both are inquiries into the nature of simplicity in explanation.
Anyhow, some aspects of Ockhams's Razor should be scrutinized in a closer way:
- The most simple is not generally the most immediate … and the most immediate is frequently not the most simple
- In the words of A. RAPOPORT: “Seek simplicity, but distrust it”
The most simple explanation may in some cases hide some unsuspected aspects, in need of some more complex modelling or description …. which could be the most simple, but at a wider or deeper level of understanding .
We may also seek and understand simplicity either at the typically reductionist or, on the contrary, at the wholeness level .