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William of Ockham
(c. 1285 - 1349)
English scholar.
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Science Quotes by William of Ockham (3 quotes)
Entia/Essentia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem.
Entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily.
Entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily.
— William of Ockham
Attributed. Described as the form as handed down to posterity by Joseph Rickaby in Scholasticism (1908), 54.
Frustra fit per plura, quod fieri potest per pauciora.
It is vain to do with more what can be done with less.
It is vain to do with more what can be done with less.
— William of Ockham
Ockham’s Razor.Summa logicae (The Sum of All Logic)(prior to 1324), Part I, Chap. 12. [The village of Ockham is in Surrey. The saying (which was applied for diminishing the number of religious truths that can be proved by reason) is not Ockham's own. As given in Joseph Rickaby, Scholasticism (1908), 54, footnote, it is found a generation before Ockham in Petrus Aureolus, The Eloquent Doctor, 2 Sent. dist. 12, q.1.]
Pluralitas non est ponenda sine necessitate.
A plurality (of reasons) should not be posited without necessity.
A plurality (of reasons) should not be posited without necessity.
— William of Ockham
Quodlibeta (Quodlibetal Questions) [1324-13], Quodlibet 6, q. 10, trans. A. Freddoso (1991), Vol. 2, 521.
In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion.
(1987) -- 
