February 13, 2013

About that Razor: What Ockham Really Said

Jacques Vallee, BoingBoing


AP Photo

In the arsenal of eternal skeptics there are few tools more dramatically and more commonly used than Ockham’s razor. It is triumphantly applied to resolve arguments about ghosts (more parsimoniously seen as misperceptions by distraught family members or the suggestible), UFOs (evidently hoaxes and mistaken observations of natural phenomena) and telepathy (a “delusion” of wishful thinking and poorly-constructed tests).

Read Full Article ››

TAGGED: philosophy, skepticism, occam's razor

RECOMMENDED ARTICLES

February 2, 2013
What Is Skepticism, Anyway?
Michael Shermer, Huffington Post
As the publisher of Skeptic magazine I am often asked what I mean by skepticism, and if I'm skeptical of everything or if I actually believe anything. Skepticism is not a position that you stake out ahead of time and stick to... more ››