Philosophical Razors – what are they? Have you ever heard of them? Do you know what they are? I hadn’t and didn’t until I ran across the term in my daily crossword puzzle. I looked them up and what I found was fun and surprising. There were nine of them.
I had only ever heard of one — the Duck test. You know, the one that says if it looks like a duck and swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck. There is a stipulation with this one in this day and age when so many things can be deceiving. It might be unwise or even dangerous to take appearances for reality, but if it’s right in front of your eyes, what you see is usually what you get.
Hanlon’s razor
Of the other eight, they put forth some good philosophy but not things I would easily remember. However, there was one that I really liked. It’s Hanlon’s razor. Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by incompetence or stupidity.
Hanlon says to relax and not to believe everyone or everything is out to get you. Applying Hanlon’s razor in our day-to-day lives, allows us to become less judgmental, and improve our rationality. It allows us to give people the benefit of the doubt.
What is a “philosophical razor”?
In philosophy, a razor is a rule of thumb that allows for the elimination of unlikely explanations. Hence, a philosophical razor is not an unbreakable law or rule. And it is not always right 100{0cdeda01f3f3bfc56e7a77b9bf298b3f7d32c3660f53c61fbe1a94dd1c6575f6} of the time, but it is right more often than not, and is, therefore, a useful mental shortcut that allows you to make decisions and solve problems quicker and easier.
Here is a list of the others:
- Occam’s razor: Entities should not be multiplied without necessity
- Sagan standard: Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence
- Hitchens razor: What is asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence
- Hume’s razor: Causes must be sufficiently able to produce the effect assigned to them
- Popper’s falsifiability principle: If a theory is to be considered scientific, it must be possible to disprove or refute it
- Newton’s flaming laser sword: If something cannot be settled by experiment, it is not worth debating
- Grice’s razor: You should address what the speaker actually meant, instead of addressing the literal meaning of what they actually said
Summary
I found these razor’s interesting to read and think about. And there is quite a bit written about them. And I won’t try to repeat or summarize them all here. Occam’s Principle is often called the KISS principle — Keep it simple stupid. I’m sure you have heard of it. Also, Grice’s principle just boils down to “you know what I meant”. Hitchen’s – no evidence, no argument.
My purpose is only to make you aware of them if you aren’t already. I really think they are interesting and fun. To learn more you can Google each one and learn more on your own.