[R] Occams Razor Was: lm -- significance of x ...

[Uli Flenker; Raum 704]

On 28 Sep 2000, Peter Dalgaard BSA wrote:

> > PS: Occam of course came from England (and spent his last years in
> > Germany). So what I quoted has been translated from english to german and
> > vice versa several times; and the weakest link in the chain is definetely
> > me! I hope this is not too big a problem. 
> 
> I think Occam/Ockham himself wrote in Latin. By my failing memory, the
> quote is 
>
> "Entia non runt multiplicanda praeter necessitam"

	So you see how weak that link is! Of course at that time nearly
	all philosophical/scientific things were published in Latin.
	Nevertheless Occams principle is refered to as "Occams razor"
	more often than as "Occams Rasiermesser" even in german textbooks.
	Therefore to me it seems likely that at least the term "razor" 
	was introduced by british philosophers that followed William of
	Occam.
	
	I think he whole idea is essentially "non-continental" ;-)
 
> 
> give or take a couple of incorrect inflexions. I.e. "Entities should
> not multiply unless necessary" -- do not invent more elaborate
> explanations than what is necessary to explain the facts.
>		

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