The Principle of Parsimony or "Occam's (Ockham's) Razor"

"When the solution is simple, God is answering." — Albert Einstein

The Principle of Parsimony, a.k.a Occam's Razor, is the rule that explanations which need fewer assumptions or require less of a stretch of the imagination are preferred over more complex and improbable explanations. This was a major reason that behaviorists threw out consciousness. They said it wasn't needed to explain behavior.

In addition, parsimony, or Occam's Razor, is the main reason that creationists are leery of theistic evolution. Some who wish to accept the overwhelming evidence for evolution but are uncomfortable about the religious implications have tried to compromise by saying that evolution is valid, but that it was instituted by an almighty god. This is called "Theistic evolution."

The reason creationists object to theistic evolution is that they realize at some level they are vulnerable to Occam's Razor. Since the existence of God doesn't in any way contribute to the explanation and since evolution is adequate on its own to explain the emergence of life, Occam's Razor requires that God be left out of the explanation — and this is unacceptable to Christian fundamentalists.

Other Razors