In
philosophy, a razor is a
principle or
rule of thumb that allows one to eliminate ("shave off") unlikely explanations for a phenomenon, or avoid unnecessary actions.
Razors include:
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Occam's razor
Occam's razor, Ockham's razor, or Ocham's razor ( la, novacula Occami), also known as the principle of parsimony or the law of parsimony ( la, lex parsimoniae), is the problem-solving principle that "entities should not be multiplied beyond neces ...
: Simpler explanations are more likely to be correct; avoid unnecessary or improbable assumptions.
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Hanlon's razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.
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Hitchens's razor
Hitchens's razor is an epistemological razor (a general rule for rejecting certain knowledge claims) that states "what can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence." The razor was created by and named after author and ...
: That which can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.
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Hume's guillotine: What ought to be cannot be deduced from what is. "If the cause, assigned for any effect, be not sufficient to produce it, we must either reject that cause, or add to it such qualities as will give it a just proportion to the effect."
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Alder's razor
Michael D. Alder is an Australian mathematician, formerly an assistant professor at the University of Western Australia. Alder is known for his popular writing, such as sardonic articles about the lack of basic arithmetic skills in young adults. ...
(also known as Newton's Flaming Laser Sword
): If something cannot be settled by experiment or observation, then it is not worthy of debate.
[
: Also available as ]
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Sagan standard: Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
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Popper's falsifiability principle: For a theory to be considered scientific, it must be falsifiable.
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Grice's razor (also known as Giume's razor): As a principle of
parsimony, conversational
implications are to be preferred over semantic context for
linguistic
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
explanations.
See also
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References
Razors
A razor is a bladed tool primarily used in the removal of body hair through the act of shaving. Kinds of razors include straight razors, safety razors, disposable razors, and electric razors.
While the razor has been in existence since bef ...
Arguments
Philosophical analogies
Rhetorical techniques
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