Ockham's Razor or Occam's Razor
Ockham's razor asserts that simplicity is preferred to complexity in design.
Many variations of the principle exist each adapted to address the particulars
of a field or domain of knowledge. A few examples include:
- "Entities should not be multiplied without necessity." —William
of Ockham (Occam)
- "That is better and more valuable which requires fewer, other circumstances
being equal." —Robert Grosseteste
- "Nature operates in the shortest way possible." —Aristotle
- "We are to admit no more causes of natural things than such as are
both true and sufficient to explain their appearances." —Isaac
Newton
- "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."
—Albert Einstein
Universal
Principles of Design by William Lidwell, Kritina Holden and Jill
Butler
Robert Grosseteste
Grosseteste worked on geometry, optics and astronomy. In optics he experimented
with mirrors and with lenses. He believed that experimentation must be
used to verify a theory by testing its consequences.
William of Ockham
Philosopher, theologian, and polemicist. William of Ockham was a vigorous,
critical and independent thinker, and at the same time a theologian in
the Augustinian-Franciscan tradition. He contributed to the development
of formal logic, and a logician's approach runs through all his work.
He made much use of the principle of economy ('Ockham's razor').
