Occam's Razor
Origin
Used by 14th-century English Franciscan friar William of Ockham in Scholastic debates. The Latin form: "Plurality should not be posited without necessity." The "razor" metaphor came later (17th century) — cutting away unnecessary explanations. Galileo, Newton, and Einstein all invoked the principle.
Meaning
When two explanations equally fit the data, choose the simpler. Copernicus beat Ptolemy because the heliocentric model explained the same planetary motion with fewer assumptions. The medical principle: "When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras."
Lesson — Meeting Eastern Classics
Tao Te Ching 22: "Bent, then whole; empty, then full; less, then gained; more, then confused." Laozi taught Ockham's spirit 2,300 years earlier. Simplicity is the deepest mark of truth.
"簡" combines bamboo (竹) with interval (間) — originally a bamboo slip (book), simplicity. Analects 15.41: "Speech: convey the meaning, no more." Adding more clouds the meaning. Ockham's Razor is the ethic of 簡.
