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Occam’s Method Of Metaphysical Economy
- William of Occam deliberately pared down metaphysics to eliminate unnecessary entities posited by prior scholastics.
- His method of simplification became famous as 'Occam's razor' expressed as 'plurality is not to be posited without necessity.'
Same Results With Fewer Entities
- Occam aimed to reach the same scholastic results as his realist opponents but with far fewer metaphysical assumptions.
- He argued the world consists only of substances and their qualities, eliminating many category-entities.
Names That Point Back To Substances
- Occam contrasts absolute and connotative names to show many category-terms refer indirectly to substances.
- He uses 'white' and 'Cuban' examples to illustrate that such terms still speak of substances, not extra entities.