Ockham’s (Occam’s) Razor

A methodological principle of parsimony, which states that the simplest theory is probably best. There is, however, no philosophical consensus on what constitutes simplicity (forexample, number of posited entities versus number of different types of posited entities) or if a better theory is more likely to be true, even if it is not the simplest. Applied with less philosophical rigor as a rule of thumb, Ockham’s Razor is “the simplest explanation is usually the most likely to be true.”