Occam's Razor and the connection to Law

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WanderingGaze22
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Occam's Razor and the connection to Law

Post by WanderingGaze22 »

Occam's Razor is a principle basically means the simplest explanation and strategy is the best one. Coined by Franciscan Friar William of Ockham, Occam's Razor implies "explanations should make as few assumptions as possible." When other theories are equal being accepted, the principle recommends the hypothesis that has the fewest assumptions and postulates the fewest entities while providing the explanation. For example, a source such as WebMD will diagnose you with cluster headaches when your symptoms are repeated headaches. Using Occam’s razor, one can take into account that cluster headaches are excruciating and the frequent headaches are not causing other symptoms such as swelling and watering eyes, it becomes fairly obvious that more likely that you’re dehydrated or suffering from a common cold.

The focus on this post involves the play Twelve Angry Men. It is about a jury presiding over a murder trial. Eleven people come to a vote of guilty and only one has reasonable doubt. Throughout the play, each jury member changes their vote despite the evidence due to the juror's tactics of empirical evidence.

Do you believe this principle is relevant during situations like these? When exactly should you not use it? Do you feel if law enforcement applied this principle often, would there be numerous issues that cause delay? Please specify on what you need clarification on.
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LuckyR
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Re: Occam's Razor and the connection to Law

Post by LuckyR »

WanderingGaze22 wrote: September 7th, 2021, 2:26 am Occam's Razor is a principle basically means the simplest explanation and strategy is the best one. Coined by Franciscan Friar William of Ockham, Occam's Razor implies "explanations should make as few assumptions as possible." When other theories are equal being accepted, the principle recommends the hypothesis that has the fewest assumptions and postulates the fewest entities while providing the explanation. For example, a source such as WebMD will diagnose you with cluster headaches when your symptoms are repeated headaches. Using Occam’s razor, one can take into account that cluster headaches are excruciating and the frequent headaches are not causing other symptoms such as swelling and watering eyes, it becomes fairly obvious that more likely that you’re dehydrated or suffering from a common cold.

The focus on this post involves the play Twelve Angry Men. It is about a jury presiding over a murder trial. Eleven people come to a vote of guilty and only one has reasonable doubt. Throughout the play, each jury member changes their vote despite the evidence due to the juror's tactics of empirical evidence.

Do you believe this principle is relevant during situations like these? When exactly should you not use it? Do you feel if law enforcement applied this principle often, would there be numerous issues that cause delay? Please specify on what you need clarification on.
Well, Occam's razor is basic advice to help folks predict which explanation is more likely to be true, yet it proves nothing. Or to answer your question directly, you should only use it to prioritize the order in which you test various explanations. But you still need to test, it answers nothing.
"As usual... it depends."
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Pattern-chaser
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Re: Occam's Razor and the connection to Law

Post by Pattern-chaser »

WanderingGaze22 wrote: September 7th, 2021, 2:26 am Occam's Razor is a principle basically means the simplest explanation and strategy is the best one. Coined by Franciscan Friar William of Ockham, Occam's Razor implies "explanations should make as few assumptions as possible." When other theories are equal being accepted, the principle recommends the hypothesis that has the fewest assumptions and postulates the fewest entities while providing the explanation. For example, a source such as WebMD will diagnose you with cluster headaches when your symptoms are repeated headaches. Using Occam’s razor, one can take into account that cluster headaches are excruciating and the frequent headaches are not causing other symptoms such as swelling and watering eyes, it becomes fairly obvious that more likely that you’re dehydrated or suffering from a common cold.

Do you believe this principle is relevant during situations like these? When exactly should you not use it? Do you feel if law enforcement applied this principle often, would there be numerous issues that cause delay? Please specify on what you need clarification on.
The first, and most important, point that must be made in response to this is that Occam's Razor is not a principle, it's a simple rule of thumb; a way of guessing that has proven useful, and maybe successful, in the past. It is recommended for use when no better-justified option is available.

Occam's Razor is a valuable and useful tool that very often comes in handy. But it isn't a "principle", and it doesn't have the justification that a principle would have. It's a way of guessing.
Pattern-chaser

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Steve3007
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Re: Occam's Razor and the connection to Law

Post by Steve3007 »

Great play. Great movie. Great cast of great character actors. Discussed recently in another topic here.

First point I'd make about Occam's Razor: (As I understand it) It's not a way of deciding between competing theories, one of which is right (predictively and descriptively accurate) and one of which is wrong. It's a way of deciding between competing theories based on which one is most useful. Two theories can both be right (predictively and descriptively accurate) but one can be more useful than the other.

First point I'd make about juries and trials: The defendant is deemed innocent unless "proved" (i.e. demonstrated with a very high degree of probability) to be guilty. Two theories as to whether the defendant is innocent (theory 1) or guilty (theory 2) are not separated by Occam's Razor. They're separated by the fact that they make different predictions.
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