 Coaching
Notes: Occam's Razor
Based on an extract from Gregory David
Robert's website
www.shantaram.com
Occam's Razor is named after William
of Occam (1285 - 1349), who was an English Franciscan monk and a very
influential thinker. Among many other interesting propositions, Occam
argued that any kind of problem that we're trying to solve or
investigate "should be stated in its most basic terms."
The principle states that the
explanation of any phenomenon should make as few assumptions as
possible, eliminating those that make no difference in the observable
predictions of the explanatory hypothesis or theory. This is often
paraphrased as "All other things being equal, the simplest solution is
the best."
What William of Occam was getting at
was that when we're exercising our minds in trying to work out a problem
we should try to eliminate everything that's not strictly relevant or
necessary from any statement of the problem - and from every attempt to
find its solution. In other words, we should try to get down to the most
essential elements involved in the problem and its solution before we
even start to discuss it.
Now, the part of this idea that I want
to concentrate on, is the part that involves the procedures involved in
seeking solutions to problems.
I'll give you a silly example, as a
way of explaining precisely what I mean by this tool. Let's suppose that
you make a cup of milky tea - without sugar - and leave the room for a
few minutes, with the cup of hot tea resting on a table. Then, when you
return, you sip the tea to discover that it is very sweet. One possible
explanation (among myriad) for this strange turn of events, is that
someone came into the room while you were away, and sugared the tea.
Another explanation (I'm not saying it's sensible) is that ancient Greek
mythical figures, known as Centaurs, entered the room through a spatio-temporal
distortion and performed a sorcerer's ritual over the tea cup, resulting
in a sweetening of the tea.
Now, if we take a good look at this
admittedly silly example, the fact is that I can't actually prove to you
that Centaurs didn't come into the room and perform their sorcery,
thereby sweetening the tea. What I can tell you is that if we develop a
healthy suspicion of explanations that are more complex than they need
to be, or involve more elements than they need to - and if we make it a
habit to seek out the simplest explanations of things, whenever they
actually serve to explain the things - we'll be more often right than
wrong.
Work with this tool as often as you
can, and do your best to make it an intellectual habit to apply Occam's
Razor. Actually say the words, in your mind and in your discussions with
your friends and colleagues: "If we apply Occam's Razor, we can see
pretty clearly that the explanation you're providing is much more
complicated than we need …" Use it in everything, from an analysis of
the reasons why nations go to war, to the reasons put forward for
economic "rationalisation" within societies. With practice, the tool
will serve you well, and become one of the handiest in your management
toolkit. |
