Introduction
I just read TC Chamberlin’s paper on the Method of Multiple Working Hypotheses and was very taken by the concept of Complex Thought:
“The use of the method leads to certain peculiar habits of mind which deserve passing notice, … it develops a habit of thought analogous to the method itself, … a habit of parallel or complex thought. Instead of a simple succession of thoughts in linear order, the procedure is complex, and the mind appears to become possessed of the power of simultaneous vision from different standpoints.”
I was struck by the difference in this method to the KISS or Keep It Sensibly Simple approach I’ve been taught (also sometimes misrepresented as Keep It Simple Stupid… that only applies to Stupid theories, in my view).
Occam’s Razor is a principle to Keep It Very Simple:
“to select among competing hypotheses that which makes the fewest assumptions and thereby offers the simplest explanation of the effect.”
Einstein’s Razor is a a warning against too much simplicity, with it’s exhortation that we can make it as simple as possible:
“without having to surrender the adequate representation of a single datum of experience”.
Complex Thought
I love the idea that I can train myself to acheive a kind of Science Zen that unveils all kinds of complex multifactorial causal mechanisms… but I fear the Danger of Vacillation Chamberlin speaks about:
“Like a pair of delicately poised scales, every added particle on the one side or the other produces its effect in oscillation. But such a pair of scales may be altogether too sensitive to be of practical value in the rough affairs of life”.
