To: koan who wrote (9220 ) 4/17/2006 8:28:57 PM From: E. Charters Read Replies (1) | Respond to Ockham divined the basic principle of justifiable causation, that arbitrary reasons may be eschewed, as that which could cause a phenomenon were not necessary to entertain, so much as things which were the inescapable cause . principle of parsimony is one of the great drivers of scientific investigation today, and the most quoted perhaps of the basic principles or philosophies of science and legal investigation. It is also known as the law of dualities, the theory of little green men, etc.. It can be restated in many ways. It could be called the law of evidence, the law of necessity or the law of multiple causation. Nothing which is not in evidence as having cause must be surmised because it could cause . necessary and to reject the unnecessary or duplicitous. Generalities must be sought that are concluded as the sole generator of the effect, and the necessarily sole generator. Looking for evidence not found so far is fine, but looking for cause where no evidence can be found for it, is not.
