In
philosophy, a razor is a
principle or
rule of thumb that allows one to eliminate ("shave off") unlikely explanations for a phenomenon, or avoid unnecessary actions.
Razors include:
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Occam's razor: Simpler explanations are more likely to be correct; avoid unnecessary or improbable assumptions.
*
Hanlon's razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.
*
Hitchens's razor: That which can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.
*
Hume's guillotine: What ought to be cannot be deduced from what is. "If the cause, assigned for any effect, be not sufficient to produce it, we must either reject that cause, or add to it such qualities as will give it a just proportion to the effect."
*
Alder's razor (also known as Newton's Flaming Laser Sword
): If something cannot be settled by experiment or observation, then it is not worthy of debate.
[
: Also available as ]
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Sagan standard
The Sagan standard is a neologism abbreviating the aphorism that "''extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence''" (ECREE). It is named after science communicator Carl Sagan who used the exact phrase on his television program ''Cosmos'' ...
: Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
*
Popper's falsifiability principle: For a theory to be considered scientific, it must be falsifiable.
*
Grice's razor (also known as Giume's razor): As a principle of
parsimony, conversational
implications are to be preferred over semantic context for
linguistic
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
explanations.
See also
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References
Razors
A razor is a bladed tool primarily used in the removal of body hair through the act of shaving. Kinds of razors include straight razors, safety razors, disposable razors, and electric razors.
While the razor has been in existence since before ...
Arguments
Philosophical analogies
Rhetorical techniques
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