The Varieties of Parsimony in Psychology

Mind and Language 31 (4):414-437 (2016)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Philosophers and psychologists make many different, seemingly incompatible parsimony claims in support of competing models of cognition in nonhuman animals. This variety of parsimony claims is problematic. Firstly, it is difficult to justify each specific variety. This problem is especially salient for Morgan's Canon, perhaps the most important variety of parsimony claimed. Secondly, there is no systematic way of adjudicating between particular claims when they conflict. I argue for a view of parsimony in comparative psychology that solves these problems, based on Sober's view that parsimony claims are claims that one model is more plausible given background theory.

Other Versions

No versions found

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 98,316

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Multilocation and Parsimony.Justin Mooney - 2018 - Thought: A Journal of Philosophy 7 (3):153-160.
Physicalism and the burden of parsimony.Giacomo Zanotti - 2021 - Synthese 199 (3-4):11109-11132.
High‐Fidelity Metaphysics: Ideological Parsimony in Theory Choice.Peter Finocchiaro - 2021 - Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 102 (4):613-632.
A Puzzle About Parsimony.Peter Finocchiaro - 2020 - Dialectica 74 (4).
Diagnostic Parsimony.Bengt Autzen - 2022 - Philosophy of Medicine 3 (1).
Parsimony Arguments in Science and Philosophy—A Test Case for Naturalism P.Elliott Sober - 2009 - Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association 83 (2):117 - 155.

Analytics

Added to PP
2016-09-05

Downloads
72 (#242,373)

6 months
19 (#141,530)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Mike Dacey
Bates College

References found in this work

The Logic of Scientific Discovery.Karl Popper - 1959 - Studia Logica 9:262-265.
Does the chimpanzee have a theory of mind?David Premack & Guy Woodruff - 1978 - Behavioral and Brain Sciences 1 (4):515-526.
Philosophy of Natural Science.Carl G. Hempel - 1967 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 18 (1):70-72.
The Logic of Scientific Discovery.Karl R. Popper - 1959 - Les Etudes Philosophiques 14 (3):383-383.

View all 30 references / Add more references