In his review of John Carey’s book What Good Are the Arts? (The Sunday Times, 29th May 2005), David Lodge states that Ockham’s Razor is a principle that “forbids the multiplication of facts”, than which a more egregiously absurd assertion it is hard to find. I suppose a principle such as this might find itself celebrated amongst the postmodern literati, where baboon-like comprehension and an aversion from facts have long been applauded, but to suppose that William of Ockham was part of this set is a parachronistic libel.
.....For the benefit of Mr Lodge and his ilk, Ockham’s Razor states that one should not make more assumptions than the minimum needed, that is to say, one should prefer the simplest theory that accounts adequately for the facts, or as the man himself put it, Pluralitas non est ponenda sine necessitate (Plurality should not be posited without necessity).
.....There is another widely known, though rarely adhered to, principle called Checking One’s Facts, which aims to reduce the unnecessary multiplication of errors. I recommend it to David Lodge.
