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orion Re: Occam's Razor



Maurice A. O'Sullivan wrote:


>>As is all too evident,  Occam's razor is often invoked but its
>>meaning and implications are rarely   understood or applied
>>correctly.

>How, I wonder, would she regard this -- to me, elegant  -- restatement of
>Occam's Razor ,  which, by coincidence, came  today as the  sig.line  of a
>posting to the  TC-list?
>****************************************************************************
_________________________________________________
>Jean Valentin - Bruxelles - Belgique
>e-mail: jgvalentin@arcadis.be /// netmail: 2:291/780.103
>_________________________________________________
>"Ce qui est trop simple est faux, ce qui est trop complexe est 
>inutilisable"

It's very elegant.    I don't disagree with the underlying sentiment either, but
I would
not consider it a restatement of Occam's razor.   William, IMHO, would not have
thought that
something was false JUST because it was simple, any more than he would concur
with the
notion with which he is frequently misassociated--that simple necessarily
implies true.  Then
again, he is believed to have lived in a more barber-ous era  ;-)   .


                                           Marsha

Marsha B. Cohen
Florida Int'l University