Occam's razor

Source status: Source not yet verified by the archive.

The simplest sufficient explanation is preferred.

Category: Murphy's Miscellaneous Laws

Votes: 0 up, 0 down

In context

Some laws defy easy categorization but still capture the same spirit: when something can go wrong, it will. This collection spans everyday life and odd corners of experience.

Editorial note

Prefer the explanation that accounts for the evidence with the fewest unsupported assumptions; simplest does not mean shortest or easiest.

Practical example: When one configuration change explains a failure, test it before proposing several unrelated simultaneous faults.

Reviewed ยท Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Keep exploring laws from this topic or browse the full archive for neighboring ideas.

See this category Browse all laws

Improve this entry

Know the original source, a better attribution, or a duplicate we should merge? Report an issue.