[Logic Times]

Not copied in its entirety because of links.

[Txsleuth]

Ping

[elkfersupper]

Thank you for posting this.

[Chuckster]

bttt

[Billthedrill]

The medieval thinker who popularized the idea that simplest explanations are usually the best...

That isn't what he said. Ockham said that "logical entities are not to be multiplied without necessity." The idea there was that when two theories proposed to explain the same set of facts, the one with fewer logical entities was to be considered first.

By no means does this mean that the best solution to a problem is the simplest one proposed. That's quite another thing. When one has a sick child one may either go through a lengthy process of diagnosis, treatment, and recovery, or one may simply shoot the little bugger and try again. Ockham's razor would be misapplied were it to be used to justify the latter. It isn't for that.

Just my opinion. Yes, it's pedantic and I apologize for that.

[canuck_conservative]

"But in the end, the politician is slave to one easily understood master: public opinion."

Not true!

Politicians can shape and influence public opinion too, if they can articulate good ideas. Theodore Roosevelt, for example, used his bully pulpit to good effect.

But nobody in Washington wants to LEAD on this issue - that's the real shame!!