Ockham
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9.9
- proper noun
- /ˈɑːkəm/
- William of Ockham is renowned for his principle of parsimony in philosophical reasoning.
- Ockham's razor
- William of Ockham
Examples
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Proposition: "It is vain to do with more what can be done with fewer." -- William of Ockham
Academic text (2004) -
Scotus, Ockham, Pomponazzi, and Erasmus are just a few names that come to mind.
Blog text (16) -
Or read Richard Weaver on William of Ockham.
Blog text (27) -
Yet we're supposed to believe he doesn't know who William of Ockham is?
Blog text (15) -
There are only three such things, according to both Ockham and Buridan, namely, God, angels, and the human soul.
Academic text (2016) -
13 Responses to Don't Just Blame William of Ockham
Blog text (27) -
It's called Ockham's Razor for all of you coming up with these ever-so-intricate conspiracy theories.
Blog text (14) -
So Ockham's razor should apply to the internalist rather than to the externalist position.
Academic text (2005) -
The commissions also involved a career hazard: sometimes they entailed promotions, as is the case with most of the members of the 1320 consultation; sometimes ostracism, as the cases of William of Ockham and Thomas Waleys testify.
Academic text (2007) -
Ockham's razor would remove the dramatic flair and leave it as a self-sustaining process—a la Hoyle.
Blog text (4)
Synonyms
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9.9
A thinker from England in the 1300s who says simple explanations are best
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9.9
A medieval English philosopher and religious thinker known for saying simple explanations are better
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9.9
An English philosopher from the Middle Ages known for saying that simpler explanations are better
Surface Forms
Etymology
Ockham comes from the name of a village in England; the ending -ham means 'home', so the place name originally meant a person's 'home'. That's why Ockham is the name used for the philosopher William of Ockham and is linked to 'Occam's Razor', the idea that the simplest explanation is often best.