My Favorite Philosophical Principle – Occam’s Razor

Occam’s razor as explained by AI, is “a principle that states that the simplest explanation is usually the correct one. It is also known as the principle of parsimony or the law of parsimony.”

Occam’s razor is often used to help people choose between competing explanations for the same circumstance. Here’s a commonly cited example: If there are two possible explanations for why a car won’t start, one that is simple and one that is complex, Occam’s razor would suggest that the simple explanation is more likely to be correct. If the explanations are a) the car’s battery is dead and b) it rained last night and the car got too wet and wont start until it dries out completely; the most likely explanation is probably the simplest – the car battery is dead.

Sometimes a dead car battery is just a dead car battery, no mystery surrounding it.