What is an Occam razor, please give an example?

Occam's razor's law, was proposed by the 14th-century logician Occam, which reads, "Do not waste more to do what can be done with less."

For example, our organization is constantly expanding, the system is constantly improving, and there are more and more documents, but the efficiency of the organization is getting lower and lower. This forces us to use the "Occam's razor" to adopt simple management, simplify the complex, and make the complex simple.

Occam's Razor Law (OCCAM's razor, ockham'S Razor) is also known as "Ocon."

of the razor", it was made by England in the 14th century.

Logician, St. Francis.

Proposed by William of Occam (circa 1285–1349).

This principle is called Nian Tanyan's "Do not increase the substance if the core is not necessary", that is, the "simple and effective principle". As he said in Book 2, Book 2, Title 15, "Don't waste more things to do, and use less things to do well." ”

It was proposed by William of Occam in the 14th century.

Generally we interpret this as "do not add entities unless necessary".

More concise and more powerful, the "razor" is in line with the pragmatist's philosophy of putting efficiency first. As long as you observe carefully, you will find that "razor" also exists in some phenomena of current human society.

For example, let's look at how the "razor" works when the theory of relativity replaces Newtonian mechanics. It is said that at that time, Newtonian mechanics dominated the world, and as soon as Einstein's theory of relativity was proposed, there were many opponents. But as time goes on, there are more and more arguments to oppose the old theories and support the new ones, and scientists who believe in the old theories have to constantly find reasons for such evidence.

Until one day, when all the reasons found pile up and become more complex and difficult to understand than the new theory, the scientific theory is rewritten.

After the advent of the theory of relativity, we found that Newtonian mechanics was wrong from a more serious standpoint. The space we live in is curved, and we can change the degree of curvature of the space by placing a piece of eraser casually. However, people rarely use the theory of relativity to solve problems in their lives.

When people built automobiles and ships, they still used the formulas of Newtonian mechanics. Why don't we use more accurate theories, but we have to use inaccurate ones? The reason is very "razor" :

Newtonian mechanics is already accurate enough and simple enough in everyday life.

then What can an Occam razor be used to shav?

1.Eliminate unfalsifiable or extremely difficult to falsify opinions, and meaningless do not argue.

2.Distinguish between good and bad words, such as the explanation of various comparisons in chicken soup.

Lin Xinhao's "What the Philosophers Have Done" (there are two paragraphs in the text that are almost excerpts from the book, because the original book is really wonderful and there is little need to change it).

Occam's Razor Law (OCCAM's razor, ockham'S Razor), also known as "Occam's razor", was proposed by William of Occam (circa 1285-1349), a 14th-century English logician and Franciscan friar. This principle is called "Do not add entities if you don't have to", i.e., the "simple and effective principle". To put it simply, don't waste more things than the rubber stool to do, use less things, and do the same good things.

For scientists, Occam's razor principle has a more common formulation: when you have two or more competing theories that can come to the same conclusion, the simple or falsifiable one is better. There is also a more common strong form of this expression:

If you have two or more principles that both explain the observed facts, then you should use the simple or falsifiable one until more evidence is found. The simplest explanation of a phenomenon is often more correct than the complex explanation. If you have two or more similar solutions, choose the easiest.

An explanation that requires the least assumptions is most likely to be true (or in the form of this self-affirmation: keep things simple!). ）。

Notice how this principle is reinforced in the above form. Strictly speaking, they should be called the law of parsimony, or the naïve principle. Initially, we used Occam's razor to distinguish theories that could come to similar conclusions.

We try to choose theories that make different conclusions. That's not what Occam's razor intended. Don't we have to test these conclusions?

Apparently this is not the case in the end, unless we are in the early stages of the theory and are not ready for experimentation. We are simply seeking a kind of guidance for the development of the theory.

Occam's razor, also known as "Ockham's razor", was proposed by William of Occam, a 14th-century English logician and Franciscan monk. It is called "do not add entities if it is not necessary", that is, "simple and effective principle".

Physicists are very familiar with this. A theory should consist of as few equations, assumptions, and free parameters as possible (parameters such as the speed of light or the mass of electrons that cannot be calculated from other quantities). Albert Einstein made a similar statement:

Everything should be done as simple as possible, not relatively simply. ”

Because complexity is easy to get lost, only after simplification can it be easy for people to understand and operate. With the development of society and economy, time and energy have become a scarce resource for people, and the time of managers is even more limited.

Many managers who are busy all day long are rarely effective, and the reason is that they lack the thinking and ability to manage simply, and cannot distinguish between "important things" and "urgent things", and as a result, they become low-performing managers who are disengaged or failing. In this sense, the way of management is the way of simplification, and simplification means real control of things.

Examples of the application of the principle:

Occam's razor has been used in philosophy, science, and other fields, which has further developed it and is widely known to the world in modern business management. A good theory should be simple, clear, and focused, and business management theory is no exception.

When managing enterprises to make decisions, we should try to simplify complex things, eliminate interference, grasp the main contradictions, and solve the most fundamental problems, so that the enterprise can maintain the right direction. For modern enterprises, the growth of information technology has made the factors leading the development of enterprises intertwined, and it is even more difficult to turn complexity into simplicity.

Enterprise management is a system engineering, including basic management, organizational management, marketing management, technical management, production management, enterprise strategy, the simplistic management advocated by Occam's razor is not to rudely eliminate many related factors, but to go through the complex, in order to be simple. Through Occam's razor, the most critical context of the enterprise is clarified and simplified, and the core competitiveness is strengthened.

The above content refers to: Encyclopedia - Occam's razor principle.