Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Fragment -- #237

[November 2003 journal entry]

When does one get to the point of scrapping rather than continuing to revise a hypothesis/theory/paradigm – (1) when there exists an alternative minus extraneous/irrelevant ideas (i.e., the ‘Ockham’s Razor’ principle – pluralitas non est ponenda sine necessitate or “do not multiply ideas without necessity”)? (2) when an alternative hypothesis/theory/paradigm accounts for more of the (relevant/weighted) data? (3) when the hypothesis/theory/paradigm is no longer recognizable?