Editorial

摘要

One of the canons of modern scientific inquiry is the concept that, if there are two theories which explain an event, the one that is simpler is preferable. This is enshrined in the principle of parsimony that invokes Occam's razor, so-called after William of Ockham, a 14th-century English theologian and Franciscan monk, who argued that the virtues of simplicity must involve stripping away any idea that does not add to the essential nature of the argument: in his phraseology, "plurality ought never be posited without necessity" (Adams, 1987). Indeed, Einstein (1934) said that "Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler", adding to the mystery of what the notion of 'simple' actually means in scientific research. Popper (1992) also argued, regardless of any aesthetic criterion, that simple theories are preferable to the more complex because they require less empirical evidence and are easier to falsify.