William of Occam Quotes
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For nothing ought to be posited without a reason given, unless it is self-evident (literally, known through itself) or known by experience or proved by the authority of Sacred Scripture.
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3 is a prime, 5 is a prime, and 7 is a prime. Why bother with non-prime numbers when the primes can do everything?
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My God is the green tide in the spring leaves the redness of cherries high in the air the excitement of shooting stars the song of birds in summer branches the sunrise on a winter's morning the name of everything we don't understand.
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Whenever two hypotheses cover the facts, use the simpler of the two.
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The explanation requiring the fewest assumptions is most likely to be correct.
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No more things should be presumed to exist than are absolutely necessary.
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What can be explained by the assumption of fewer things is vainly explained by the assumption of more things.
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Entities are not to be multiplied beyond necessity.
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Pluralitas non est ponenda sine necessitate. A plurality (of reasons) should not be posited without necessity.
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Intuitive cognition of a thing is cognition that enables us to know whether the thing exists or does not exist, in such a way that, if the thing exists, then the intellect immediately judges that it exists and evidently knows that it exists, unless the judgment happens to be impeded through the imperfection of this cognition.
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With all things being equal, the simplest explanation tends to be the right one.
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Entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity.
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When you have two competing theories that make exactly the same predictions, the simpler one is the better.
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God's existence cannot be deduced by reason alone.
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It is vain to do with more what can be done with less.
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First it must be known that only a spoken word or a conventional sign is an equivocal or univocal term; therefore a mental contentor concept is, strictly speaking, neither equivocal nor univocal.
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Entities should not be posited unnecessarily.
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Never increase, beyond what is necessary, the number of entities required to explain anything.
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Plurality should not be assumed without necessity.
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Simpler explanations are, other things being equal, generally better than more complex ones.