The monk who helped atheism
QUESTION Has Ockham’s razor been wrongly attributed?
Ockham’s razor is the logical principle attributed to medieval English philosopher and Franciscan monk William of Ockham (1285-1349) which states that you shouldn’t make more assumptions than the minimum needed. It’s often called the principle or law of parsimony, the lex parsimonae.
The principle has a long history predating William. aristotle (384322 Bc) discussed parsimony in his Posterior analytics: ‘We may assume the superiority ceteris paribus (other things being equal) of the demonstration which derives from fewer postulates of hypotheses.’
Later Robert Grosseteste (11681253), who greatly advanced the use of experimental methods in science, endorsed the principle of parsimony, explaining ‘that is better and more valuable which requires fewer, other circumstances being equal’.
Ockham’s near contemporary Thomas aquinas (1224-74) espoused a version of parsimony, writing that: ‘If a thing can be done adequately by means of one, it is superfluous to do it by means of several; for we observe that nature does not employ two instruments where one suffices.’
While several medieval scholars advocated parsimony as a philosophical tool, Ockham advanced the discussion considerably in the form ‘ Pluralitas non est ponenda sine neccesitate’ or ‘plurality should not be posited without necessity’ and also: ‘What can be explained by the assumption of fewer things is vainly explained by the assumption of more things.’ his rigorous application of the principle appears to have earned him the phrase ‘Ockham’s razor’, but this didn’t appear until 1852 in the Discussions Of sir William hamilton, 9th Baronet (1788–1856).
Today, the term is commonly used to advance atheism. atheists use Ockham’s razor to argue against the existence of a god on the grounds that any god is an unnecessary hypothesis. Pious William would not have been pleased. Charles Drake, St Albans, Herts.
QUESTION Further to the guidelines issued by the DVLA for doctors to report patients who they think should not drive, is this system already in place for HGV drivers?
FURTHER to the earlier answer, in 1989 when I was 43, I suffered a heart attack. The hospital consultant asked me: ‘What is your occupation?’ I told him I was a long-distance lorry driver (class 1) and the holder of a PSV (bus/coach) licence.
he told me I would never again drive an HGV or bus and he was writing to the DVLA to revoke my licences. By the time I came home, this was done. I never worked in the transport industry again.
Dave Rees, Pembroke.