Occam's Razor
Channel: C0nc0rdance
Date: 21/12/2009

Occam's Razor is named for William of Ockham, an English Franciscan friar, logician and theologian.  His writings on limiting plurality in arguments has been transformative in the history of science, reason, and medicine.  While the heuristic that bears his name is very useful, it should not be seen as a substitute for good empirical testing.  It relies on subjective assessment of simplicity, rather than an objective tests in evaluating arguments.

I've borrowed heavily from the Wikpedia articles on Occam's razor and William of Ockham.  Howstuffworks was also helpful.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam%27s_razor
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_of_Ockham
http://people.howstuffworks.com/occams-razor.htm