剃刀锋利:奥卡姆剃刀在科学中的作用。

IF 4.1 3区综合性期刊 Q1 MULTIDISCIPLINARY SCIENCES

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences Pub Date : 2023-11-29 DOI:10.1111/nyas.15086

Johnjoe McFadden

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引用次数: 0

摘要

奥卡姆的剃刀——简单原则——最近被攻击为一种没有理性基础的文化偏见。越来越多的人相信伪科学和神秘主义。我认为包括奥卡姆剃刀是区分科学与迷信和伪科学的一个重要因素。我还描述了剃刀是如何嵌入贝叶斯推理的，并认为科学主要是发现我们世界最简单描述的手段。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

Razor sharp: The role of Occam's razor in science

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Razor sharp: The role of Occam's razor in science

Occam's razor—the principle of simplicity—has recently been attacked as a cultural bias without rational foundation. Increasingly, belief in pseudoscience and mysticism is growing. I argue that inclusion of Occam's razor is an essential factor that distinguishes science from superstition and pseudoscience. I also describe how the razor is embedded in Bayesian inference and argue that science is primarily the means to discover the simplest descriptions of our world.

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来源期刊

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 综合性期刊-综合性期刊

CiteScore

11.00

自引率

1.90%

发文量

193

审稿时长

2-4 weeks

期刊介绍： Published on behalf of the New York Academy of Sciences, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences provides multidisciplinary perspectives on research of current scientific interest with far-reaching implications for the wider scientific community and society at large. Each special issue assembles the best thinking of key contributors to a field of investigation at a time when emerging developments offer the promise of new insight. Individually themed, Annals special issues stimulate new ways to think about science by providing a neutral forum for discourse—within and across many institutions and fields.