{"id":76402,"date":"2022-08-19T17:21:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-19T21:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=76402"},"modified":"2022-08-24T09:13:13","modified_gmt":"2022-08-24T13:13:13","slug":"philosophical-razors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/philosophical-razors\/","title":{"rendered":"Philosophical Razors: Cut to the Chase in Problem-Solving"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What are philosophical razors? How can you use them to solve problems efficiently? Are they always useful?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you have a problem to solve, you might employ a philosophical razor. Philosophical razors are rules of thumb that help you quickly eliminate unlikely solutions to a problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Continue reading to learn a few of the most popular philosophical razors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-philosophical-razors\">Philosophical Razors<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Philosophers and scientists have developed a wide range of philosophical \u201crazors\u201d for use in argumentation. Occam\u2019s Razor is the most familiar example, and it captures this general principle\u2014avoid overly complex solutions when a simpler solution could suffice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let&#8217;s take a brief look at some of the most common philosophical razors:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Occam\u2019s Razor: <\/strong>Occam\u2019s Razor theory states that the simplest explanation is most often the best explanation. Given various solutions to a problem, all of which solve it equally well, you should favor the simplest answer.<\/li><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/what-is-hanlons-razor\/\">Hanlon\u2019s Razor<\/a>: <\/strong>Much like Occam\u2019s Razor, Hanlon\u2019s Razor quickly cuts through complicated explanations. In short, it states that the most likely explanation involves the least ill intent. According to the authors, bad things usually result from ignorance or a lack of thought, rather than malice.<\/li><li><strong>Hitchen\u2019s Razor: <\/strong><em>\u201cWhat can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence.\u201d<\/em> In other words, favor the side of an argument that has stronger evidence.<\/li><li><strong>Falsifiability: <\/strong><em>\u201cScientific claims must be falsifiable.\u201d<\/em> If you can\u2019t disprove a claim through experimentation or observation, it likely has no practical value\u2014like debating whether God exists.<\/li><li><strong>Grice\u2019s Razor: <\/strong><em>\u201cPrefer conversational implications over literal interpretations.\u201d<\/em> That is, respond to what someone appears to <em>mean<\/em> rather than interpreting his argument in an uncharitable way, such as by strawmanning his points.<em>&nbsp;<\/em><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Note that no razor is correct in every case. So instead of treating them as ironclad rules, use them as guiding principles that help you avoid wasting time on probably wrong solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/fs.blog\/occams-razor\/\">Each can be misused, too<\/a>. For instance, you could mistake Occam\u2019s Razor as suggesting that \u201cGod created and causes everything,\u201d since that\u2019s a very simple explanation for our universe. However, this neglects another principle\u2014falsifiability, as above\u2014that suggests that unfalsifiable explanations are of no use. Given this, avoid using Occam\u2019s Razor as an all-purpose cutting tool; use other <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/increase-focus\/\">mental models<\/a> to complement it and find your way to good solutions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What are philosophical razors? How can you use them to solve problems efficiently? Are they always useful? If you have a problem to solve, you might employ a philosophical razor. Philosophical razors are rules of thumb that help you quickly eliminate unlikely solutions to a problem. Continue reading to learn a few of the most popular philosophical razors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":76405,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,43],"tags":[724],"class_list":["post-76402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-philosophy","category-self-improvement","tag-the-great-mental-models-volume-1","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Philosophical Razors: Cut to the Chase in Problem-Solving - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When you have problems to solve, try using philosophical razors. Discover these tools that can help you quickly eliminate unlikely solutions.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/philosophical-razors\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Philosophical Razors: Cut to the Chase in Problem-Solving\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When you have problems to solve, try using philosophical razors. Discover these tools that can help you quickly eliminate unlikely solutions.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/philosophical-razors\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-08-19T21:21:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-08-24T13:13:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/frustrated-woman-problem.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Elizabeth Whitworth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Elizabeth Whitworth\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/philosophical-razors\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/philosophical-razors\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Elizabeth Whitworth\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13\"},\"headline\":\"Philosophical Razors: Cut to the Chase in Problem-Solving\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-19T21:21:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-24T13:13:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/philosophical-razors\/\"},\"wordCount\":402,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/philosophical-razors\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/frustrated-woman-problem.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"The Great Mental Models Volume 1\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Philosophy\",\"Self-Improvement\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/philosophical-razors\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/philosophical-razors\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/philosophical-razors\/\",\"name\":\"Philosophical Razors: Cut to the Chase in Problem-Solving - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/philosophical-razors\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/philosophical-razors\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/frustrated-woman-problem.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-19T21:21:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-24T13:13:13+00:00\",\"description\":\"When you have problems to solve, try using philosophical razors. 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