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LAW OF PARSIMONY (Lat. parsimonia, from parcere, to save)
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PARSIMONY, LAW OF (Lat. parsimonia, from parcere, to save), the name given to William of Occam's principle " Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem," i.e. that it is scientifically unsound to set up more than one hypothesis at once to explain a phenomenon. This principle is known as " Occam's razor " (see OCCAM, WILLIAM OF).