Top 23 Quotes & Sayings by William of Ockham

Explore popular quotes and sayings by an English philosopher William of Ockham.

Last updated on September 30, 2024.

William of Ockham was an English Franciscan friar, scholastic philosopher, and catholic theologian, who is believed to have been born in Ockham, a small village in Surrey. He is considered to be one of the major figures of medieval thought and was at the centre of the major intellectual and political controversies of the 14th century. He is commonly known for Occam's razor, the methodological principle that bears his name, and also produced significant works on logic, physics and theology. William is remembered in the Church of England with a commemoration on 10 April.

English - Philosopher | 1288 - April 9, 1347

Source: Wikipedia

Of two equivalent theories or explanations, all other things being equal, the simpler one is to be preferred.

William of Ockham

Plurality is not to be posited without necessity.

William of Ockham

What can be explained by the assumption of fewer things is vainly explained by the assumption of more things.

William of Ockham

Whenever two hypotheses cover the facts, use the simpler of the two.

William of Ockham

3 is a prime, 5 is a prime, and 7 is a prime. Why bother with non-prime numbers when the primes can do everything?

William of Ockham

Plurality should not be assumed without necessity.

William of Ockham

For nothing ought to be posited without a reason given, unless it is self-evident (literally, known through itself) or known by experience or proved by the authority of Sacred Scripture.

William of Ockham

Entities should not be posited unnecessarily.

William of Ockham

It is vain to do with more what can be done with less.

William of Ockham

Never increase, beyond what is necessary, the number of entities required to explain anything.

William of Ockham

Entities are not to be multiplied beyond necessity.

William of Ockham

The explanation requiring the fewest assumptions is most likely to be correct.

William of Ockham

First it must be known that only a spoken word or a conventional sign is an equivocal or univocal term; therefore a mental contentor concept is, strictly speaking, neither equivocal nor univocal.

William of Ockham

Pluralitas non est ponenda sine necessitate. A plurality (of reasons) should not be posited without necessity.

William of Ockham

God's existence cannot be deduced by reason alone.

William of Ockham

Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem

William of Ockham

With all things being equal, the simplest explanation tends to be the right one.

William of Ockham

Entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity.

William of Ockham

My God is the green tide in the spring leaves the redness of cherries high in the air the excitement of shooting stars the song of birds in summer branches the sunrise on a winter's morning the name of everything we don't understand.

William of Ockham

No more things should be presumed to exist than are absolutely necessary.

William of Ockham

Simpler explanations are, other things being equal, generally better than more complex ones.

William of Ockham

When you have two competing theories that make exactly the same predictions, the simpler one is the better.

William of Ockham

Intuitive cognition of a thing is cognition that enables us to know whether the thing exists or does not exist, in such a way that, if the thing exists, then the intellect immediately judges that it exists and evidently knows that it exists, unless the judgment happens to be impeded through the imperfection of this cognition.

William of Ockham

Top 23 Quotes & Sayings by William of Ockham

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