Razor (philosophy)

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In philosophy , especially in epistemology , philosophy of science and the theory of argumentation , but also in literature , called the English expression Razor, German  razor , criteria (to exclude speculative ) explanation models. They serve to gain knowledge by helping to eliminate hypotheses that have or do not have certain properties - also against cognitive distortions . The expression goes back to a scholastic principle in Wilhelm von Ockham , which is called Occam's razor ('Occam's Razor').

For example, razors can identify theories and claims as unscientific. For phenomena for which there are several competing explanations, they can be useful in inferring the best explanation .

In literary studies, guidelines for the design of storylines are derived from the “razors” . These are principles of economy , through which the burden of good faith on the counterpart should be kept to a minimum. A more well-known recent example of argumentation theory is a corollary to Godwin's Law : Anyone who expresses the Hitler comparison is eliminated from the debate as inferior.

Examples

Ockham's razor (after Wilhelm von Ockham )
"Of several possible explanations for the same situation, the simplest theory is preferable to all others."
Hanlon's Razor (allegedly by Robert J. Hanlon, possibly Robert A. Heinlein was meant)
“ Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity. "( Murphy's Law Book Two. More Reasons Why Things Go Wrong , German:" Never ascribe to malice what can be adequately explained by stupidity. ")
Hume's Razor (after David Hume )
“ When we infer any particular cause from an effect, we must proportion the one to the other, and can never be allowed to ascribe to the cause any qualities, but what are exactly sufficient to produce the effect. [...] 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. "( David Hume : An Inquiry into Human Understanding. Section XI. Of a Particular Providence and of a Future State., German:" If one deduces a certain cause from an effect, one has to adapt one to the other and never must To assign cause properties that are not exactly necessary to produce the effect. [...] If the cause assumed for an effect is unable to produce it, then one must either reject the cause or add properties that exactly correspond to the effect. " )
Hitchens' razor (by Christopher Hitchens )
“ What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence. "(German:" What is claimed without evidence can be rejected without counter-evidence. ")
Alder's Razor, also Newton's flaming laser sword (by Mike Alder, the alternative name refers to Isaac Newton )
“ If something cannot be settled by experiment or observation then it is not worthy of debate. ”(Mike Alder, German:“ What cannot be decided by experiment or observation is not worth discussing. ”)
Popper's principle of falsification (by Karl Popper )
"An empirical-scientific system must be able to fail because of experience."
Sagan Standard (by Marcello Truzzi , made famous by Carl Sagan )
“ Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. "(German:" Extraordinary statements require extraordinary evidence. ")
Grice's semantic razor (after Paul Grice )
“ Senses are not to be multiplied beyond necessity. ”(German:“ The meaning of an utterance should not be multiplied beyond necessity. ”) What is also meant is that when interpreting an utterance, context and expectation should have more weight than the variety of meanings of the partial expressions.
Scopie's Law (by Rich Scopie)
Arguments that are supported by citing particularly dubious sources should be ignored.
“ In any discussion involving science or medicine, citing Whale. to as a credible source loses you the argument immediately… and gets you laughed out of the room. "(German:" In any discussion about science or medicine you lose the argument as soon as you treat Whale.to as a credible source ... and you are laughed at until you have left the room. ")

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ online , 12th paragraph, translation by Julius von Kirchmann
  2. ↑ Murray Miles: Inroads. Paths in Ancient and Modern Western Philosophy (=  Toronto Studies in Philosophy ). University of Toronto Press, Toronto 2003, ISBN 0-8020-8531-8 (English, 690 pages).
  3. ↑ Gerhard Preyer , Frank Siebelt: Reality and Humean Supervenience. Essays on the Philosophy of David Lewis (=  Studies in Epistemology and Co. ). Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham 2001, ISBN 0-7425-1201-0 (English, 264 pages).
  4. ↑ Christopher Hitchens : Mommie Dearest. The pope beatifies Mother Teresa, a fanatic, a fundamentalist, and a fraud. In: Slate . October 20, 2003, accessed June 7, 2017 .
  5. ↑ Christopher Hitchens : God Is Not Great . How Religion Poisons Everything. Twelve, 2008, ISBN 978-0-446-50945-9 (English, 400 pages).
  6. ↑ Mike Alder: Newton's Flaming Laser Sword . In: Philosophy Now . Vol. 46, 2004, pp. 29-33 ( philosophynow.org ).
  7. ^ Karl Popper, Herbert Keuth: Karl Popper. Logic of research . 4th edition. De Gruyter, 2013, ISBN 978-3-05-005708-8 (20 pages).
  8. ^ On the Extraordinary. An Attempt At Clarification. In: Zetetic Scholar. 1978, Retrieved June 8, 2017 .
  9. ^ Jan Straßheim: Sense and Relevance. Individual, interaction and shared world as dimensions of a social context . Springer Fachmedien, Wiesbaden 2014, ISBN 978-3-658-06568-3 , doi : 10.1007 / 978-3-658-06569-0 (376 pages).
  10. ↑ Allan Hazlett: Grice's razor . In: Metaphilosophy . tape 38 , no. 5 , 2007, p. 669 , doi : 10.1111 / j.1467-9973.2007.00512.x .
  11. ↑ Boots under attack. In: Badscience.net. March 27, 2008, accessed June 13, 2017 .