8
The Universe Observed and Unobserved
Addition of Simples
Science is not without heart. Throughout history, the scientific explanations
that have endured are the ones that are simple and easy to understand. In
addition to simplicity, they have a certain quality that is called “elegance”. For
instance it was Archimedes who discovered the law of buoyancy. It is said that
he was taking a bath when it suddenly came to him that the buoyant force
lifting him upward was equal to the weight of water his body displaced. He
was so struck by the naturalness and elegance of this discovery that he jumped
out of the bath and into the street shouting “Eureka!”
Many scientists have stories of their Eureka moments, whether in bathtubs,
during walks in the countryside, or in their labs. What incites them to shout
out Eureka is not so much the fact that the explanation they have discovered is
correct, but that it is simple, graceful and fits together naturally. Many scientific
discoveries start out in a form which is needlessly complex, but eventually it is
pared down to its bare essentials, and then gets the recognition it deserves.
One of the most important virtues of a good scientific theory is that it is
parsimonious: It depends on few variables, invokes few extraneous assumptions,
and provides a unified explanation of the data. One of the earliest statements
of this principle was made by the 14th Century Franciscan friar William of
Ockham, and is widely known today as Ockham’s razor. What it says is that,
other things being equal, the simplest theory consistent with the data is the
best one.
The ideal of elegance and simplicity has been a guiding principle of science
from its very beginnings. That is not surprising. What is surprising, however, is
that nature itself is simple, and lends itself readily to simple explanations. That
© The Author(s) 2021
C. Pinter, Mind and the Cosmic Order,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50083-2_8
121
The Universe Observed and Unobserved
Addition of Simples
Science is not without heart. Throughout history, the scientific explanations
that have endured are the ones that are simple and easy to understand. In
addition to simplicity, they have a certain quality that is called “elegance”. For
instance it was Archimedes who discovered the law of buoyancy. It is said that
he was taking a bath when it suddenly came to him that the buoyant force
lifting him upward was equal to the weight of water his body displaced. He
was so struck by the naturalness and elegance of this discovery that he jumped
out of the bath and into the street shouting “Eureka!”
Many scientists have stories of their Eureka moments, whether in bathtubs,
during walks in the countryside, or in their labs. What incites them to shout
out Eureka is not so much the fact that the explanation they have discovered is
correct, but that it is simple, graceful and fits together naturally. Many scientific
discoveries start out in a form which is needlessly complex, but eventually it is
pared down to its bare essentials, and then gets the recognition it deserves.
One of the most important virtues of a good scientific theory is that it is
parsimonious: It depends on few variables, invokes few extraneous assumptions,
and provides a unified explanation of the data. One of the earliest statements
of this principle was made by the 14th Century Franciscan friar William of
Ockham, and is widely known today as Ockham’s razor. What it says is that,
other things being equal, the simplest theory consistent with the data is the
best one.
The ideal of elegance and simplicity has been a guiding principle of science
from its very beginnings. That is not surprising. What is surprising, however, is
that nature itself is simple, and lends itself readily to simple explanations. That
© The Author(s) 2021
C. Pinter, Mind and the Cosmic Order,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50083-2_8
121