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MENTAL MODEL · M13310

Simplicity

Simplicity
TechnicalHigh supportScientific Methodology
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Updated 2026-09-10

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INTRODUCTION

English translation pending.

CORE DEFINITION

Most philosophers believe that, other things being equal, a simpler theory is better. Syntactic simplicity measures the number and brevity of a theory's basic principles, while ontological simplicity measures the number of kinds of entities the theory posits. Occam's razor is the traditional name for the preference for parsimony, and simplicity is one of the main virtues, alongside accuracy and explanatory power, in theory choice.

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

psychology

Reduce cognitive load

- Theory choice: break ties between empirically equivalent rivals by degree of simplicity. - Overfitting guard: stay alert to adding parameters merely to fit the data already in hand. - Parsimony sorting: distinguish syntactic from ontological simplicity, which are two different kinds of economy.

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The justification of simplicity has no single source. The a priori approach holds that it reflects the structure of the world or the demands of reason; the naturalized approach appeals to the actual evolutionary and learning success of simpler theories; the probabilistic approach tries to prove that simpler hypotheses carry higher prior probability. Each approach's persuasiveness depends on whether it can link simplicity to truth.

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Source support: Explicit

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    plato.stanford.eduhttps://plato.stanford.edu/entries/simplicity/ZH · Explicit
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