![]() 1217–1220), declares: "That is better and more valuable which requires fewer, other circumstances being equal. Robert Grosseteste, in Commentary on the Posterior Analytics Books ( Commentarius in Posteriorum Analyticorum Libros) (c. ![]() Phrases such as "It is vain to do with more what can be done with fewer" and "A plurality is not to be posited without necessity" were commonplace in 13th-century scholastic writing. 168) stated, "We consider it a good principle to explain the phenomena by the simplest hypothesis possible." Aristotle writes in his Posterior Analytics, "We may assume the superiority ceteris paribus of the demonstration which derives from fewer postulates or hypotheses." Ptolemy ( c. The origins of what has come to be known as Occam's razor are traceable to the works of earlier philosophers such as John Duns Scotus (1265–1308), Robert Grosseteste (1175–1253), Maimonides (Moses ben-Maimon, 1138–1204), and even Aristotle (384–322 BC). Part of a page from John Duns Scotus's book Commentaria oxoniensia ad IV libros magistri Sententiarus, showing the words: " Pluralitas non est ponenda sine necessitate", i.e., "Plurality is not to be posited without necessity" Ockham stated the principle in various ways, but the most popular version, "Entities are not to be multiplied without necessity" ( Non sunt multiplicanda entia sine necessitate) was formulated by the Irish Franciscan philosopher John Punch in his 1639 commentary on the works of Duns Scotus. Ockham did not invent this principle, but the "razor"-and its association with him-may be due to the frequency and effectiveness with which he used it. ![]() Libert Froidmont, in his On Christian Philosophy of the Soul, takes credit for the phrase, speaking of " novacula occami". The phrase Occam's razor did not appear until a few centuries after William of Ockham's death in 1347.
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