Ockham’s Razor Another thirteenth-century theologian who contributed to the development of scientific method was William of Ockham (Fig. 1.7). He is best known today for his famed “razor”—the methodological principle that encourages scientists to avoid multiplying unnecessary explanatory entities and, in that sense, to favor simpler hypotheses. William of Ockham also emphasized the contingency of creation and its dependence on the will of God, its creator.70 Ockham’s razor and his famed dictum—“Never posit pluralities [many explanatory entities] without necessity”71—helped to liberate science
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