Honors Program

Honors in Philosophy

Date of Award

5-2013

Thesis Professor(s)

David Harker, Jeffrey Gold

Thesis Professor Department

Philosophy and Humanities

Thesis Reader(s)

Gary Henson, Allen Coates, Paul Tudico

Abstract

The principle of simplicity (parsimony) has long been invoked as a regulative principle that helps guide theory selection in science. However, it is unclear if there is justification for a globally applicable criterion of parsimony. This paper briefly reviews the salient features of what it means for something to be simple, as well as argues for simplicity as relevant only to a set of background assumptions.

Document Type

Honors Thesis - Withheld

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

Copyright

Copyright by the authors.

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