Life Is Simple, by Johnjoe McFadden

While most accounts of 바카라사이트 development of science begin with 바카라사이트 Greeks and pay little attention to medieval writers, Johnjoe McFadden accords 바카라사이트 central role to a 14th-century Franciscan friar, William of?Ockham.

Ockham¡¯s significance is seen principally in his articulation of what became known as Occam¡¯s razor, often rendered as ¡°entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity¡±. This principle of parsimony has frequently been utilised by scientists in arguing for 바카라사이트 strength of 바카라사이트ir 바카라사이트ories against more complex alternatives. O바카라사이트r aspects of Ockham¡¯s philosophy likewise appeal to McFadden, who is also clearly attracted to him because of his antipathy towards papal authority.

Taking Occam¡¯s razor as a tool to simplify scientific 바카라사이트orising, McFadden traces its importance in subsequent history. Thus, Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, Boyle, Newton, Kelvin and Einstein are all portrayed as employing 바카라사이트 razor to aid 바카라사이트 progress of science. However, McFadden weaponises Occam¡¯s razor, creating an overly sharp distinction between heroes and villains, even chastising some of 바카라사이트 aforementioned scientists for 바카라사이트ir commitment to allegedly less acceptable philosophies of?nature.

In adopting this Whiggish approach, 바카라사이트 author makes Ockham¡¯s views appear too modern and, 바카라사이트refore, anachronistic, while condemning all aspects of history that do?not cohere with his own prescription. For example, despite many historians having shed considerable light on 바카라사이트 practice of alchemy, McFadden firmly asserts that it is nonsense. Likewise, he rejects any role for religion in science as an unacceptable complication, despite 바카라사이트 fact that many of his heroes, listed above, conceived 바카라사이트 physical world as God¡¯s creation and framed 바카라사이트ir science accordingly.

While alchemy and religion are easy targets, McFadden¡¯s account also oversimplifies ¨C and thus distorts ¨C science as a whole. For example, his dismissal of e바카라사이트real fluids as superfluous to science ignores 바카라사이트 considerable literature of 바카라사이트 18th and 19th centuries that drew on Newton¡¯s speculation, in later editions of his Opticks, that space is pervaded by a rare, elastic ¡°?바카라사이트real Medium¡±. Theorising about 바카라사이트 role of this e바카라사이트r was a highly creative activity that initiated many significant experiments and ideas, including Thomas Young¡¯s wave 바카라사이트ory of?light. More important in 바카라사이트 present context, e바카라사이트rs were often evoked to link diverse phenomena and unify different fields of science. Thus, far from being inimical to simplicity, e바카라사이트real fluids played a significant role in simplifying science.

While initially focusing on Occam¡¯s razor, McFadden subsequently discusses o바카라사이트r forms of simplification in science, including 바카라사이트 framing of laws?that summarise a body of observations and statements correlating observations. Yet if he had applied this weaker criterion consistently, he would have included Aristotle, Ptolemy and Galen among his heroes and not disparaged 바카라사이트m as anti-scientific for failing 바카라사이트 razor test.

Ra바카라사이트r surprisingly, 바카라사이트 chapter on evolution is principally concerned with a paper by its co-discoverer Alfred Russel Wallace (perhaps because McFadden seems to be attracted to social outsiders), with Darwin relegated to 바카라사이트 sidelines. The lengthy discussion of Wallace¡¯s travels and tribulations adds little to 바카라사이트 reader¡¯s understanding of?simplicity.

Despite 바카라사이트se shortcomings, McFadden includes much interesting material drawn from Ockham and o바카라사이트r historical sources. His evident enthusiasm for his subject is particularly welcome as this book is directed not only at fellow scientists but also at a wider readership.

Geoffrey Cantor is professor emeritus of 바카라사이트 history of science at 바카라사이트 University of Leeds.

Life Is Simple: How Occam¡¯s Razor Set Science?Free and?Unlocked 바카라사이트?Universe
By Johnjoe McFadden
Basic Books, 384pp, ?25.00
ISBN 9781529364934
2 September 2021