Occam's razor, postulated by the English monaco William of Occam in the fourteenth century, is a methodological principle according to which the same elements of the solution to a problem that is simpler or more reasonable or it is useless to complicate the solution of a problem by adding more complex assumptions than necessary.
The principle was not accepted uncritically by the whole world of philosophy and science, for example, there is those who oppose it arguing that its staff is the refusal or inability to accept an uncomfortable reality, or the complexities of nature in its entirety, and this criticism is good to see you for even the basics of creation: it is very easy to understand (and easy to accept, because it requires no effort or research reason) an explanation of the existence of all its complexity and with the help of an agent whose creator's original intentions and its origin is unknown (but should be accepted without criticism), but in reality this does nothing but move the problem up one step higher: Who created the creator? If the logic was part of the cultural heritage of religions, the principle address the problem in a flash.
Occam's razor, for which he saw his postulate is accused of heresy by the Church of Pope John XXII, is applicable in a variety of situations ranging from small daily problems to the great question of the existence of the transcendent, but in fact the principle also applies to the world of scientific research, for example in the dispute over the composition of the universe and the laws that govern it: the existence of dark matter (or 'dark matter' theory backed up by some comments but not yet definitively proven) is not 'is no unanimity in the scientific community, and to explain the movement of the largest cosmic structures, ie galaxies and clusters of galaxies, a minority This has theorized that Newtonian physics might have different laws depending on the cosmic scale investigating, this theory called MOND (modified Newtonian Dynamic) seems an unnecessary complication to the more in light of the existence of dark matter, or-changing point of view-it is pointless to the latter theory. The debate is still open, although it seems they go to great strides towards proving the existence of dark matter.
in Robert Zemeckis' Contact of 1997 (adapted from a novel by Carl Sagan) is an excellent application of the principle in both fields, the scientific and theological. The two protagonists are a theologian who has great influence the White House and a research scientist of SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence, finding extraterrestrial intelligence, a program that really does exist): the first, of course, can not explain the existence of god with evidence, not the second may prove his contact with an alien civilization evolved because his instruments have not made anything.
A lesson to be learned from all this is that it is good to deal with research in all fields of human knowledge with humility and without arrogance, and that we must always be ready to challenge their case, without making a matter of unquestionable principles.
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