… and I am too often asked to wait in small rooms
with no explanation or clear line of retreat …
From “Occam’s Razor” (2005) by Justin Lowe
Back in the Dark Ages, when I studied philosophy, I was attracted to a medieval philosopher named William of Ockham (c. 1288-1348), and a theory of his known as Occam’s Razor: This states, pretty logically, that when you have two or more competing solutions to some question, the simplest answer is the best bet. As a lazy overstimulated college kid, I liked it because it seemed easier. Sixty or so years later, it still does — though I’m still not sure why his theory lost the “h” in Ockham. Simpler, I guess.
Ever since then, poets and scientists have been influenced by this idea, all the way back to Chaucer (1342-1400) and up through Einstein (1879-1955): What could be simpler than E=mc²? Most poets — I can’t speak for scientists — write a poem as fast as they can, ideas and words flooding in, and then take a razor to it, paring it down to what we hope is its essence: “And miles to go before I sleep…”
Actually, I’m thinking of Occam’s Razor because of various letters I’ve received reacting to things I’ve said in these Notebooks. These letters go on at some length, seldom trying to refute any specific sentence, but say in essence, “You dolt, how can you claim that all Republicans are racists, or sexists, or warmongers, or gun nuts, or pitiless oppressors of women and the poor?” etc.
The simplest answer is, “I don’t claim that, and don’t believe it.”
That would satisfy Ockham because it’s short, clear and true. I just didn’t think, when writing something like “Republicans harm both the poor and the middle class by supporting anti-union laws,” that I’d have to explain, “By this I mean most Republicans, or most Republican politicians,” or “the voters who elected them,” or “the 51 percent that supported the anti-union law,” etc. Never all Republicans; and, on the other side, never all Democrats, either.
Not that long ago, Republicans used to write back saying, “Why do you support all those corrupt unions?” and I’d answer, “Statistics show that the weaker the unions, the lower the workers’ salaries.” A dialogue could begin. This is rare today, though an old friend of mine carefully cuts out articles from the New York Post or the Wall Street Journal that disagree with my positions, and sends them to me. So we write cordially back and forth, mixed in with a little trash talk left over from our high school football days.
The basic difference between Republicans and Democrats is that when Bush pushed a disastrous phony war on a country that had nothing to do with 9/11, the Republicans supported it fiercely; and when Obama pushed a universal health care bill on a country with over 50 million uninsured citizens, the Republicans just as fiercely opposed it. Please note that I don’t say all Republicans, but the differences are clear — though there must be dissenters here, just as there must be Democrats against universal health care. (Ex-Governor Jeb Bush just dissented from the Republican stances on immigrants and taxes, so dialogue may be possible in the future.)
To sum up, how can we even approach fixing the massive and complicated problems our nation is facing? There are various long and intricate solutions: fix the tax code, regulate banking, change the gun laws, support green energy, keep religion out of America’s business, vote for equal pay for women, equal rights for gays, etc. — but I’m pretty sure that Ockham, who was first declared a heretic by the Church and then restored to grace after he died, would have chosen the simplest one: Vote Democratic.
Never take the more unlikely explanation
of any event in preference to the likely—
From “Occam’s Razor” by Peter Porter (1929-2010)
This article appears in Jun 21-27, 2012.