Kingston Philosophy Café

At 19:00 Bob Clarke will give a talk on Explanatory Simplicity.

We really do like simple explanations! We will examine how our desire for simplicity colours and biases our thinking, both in our everyday lives and, philosophically, in fundamental metaphysics. We will start by placing our penchant for simple explanation within the broader context of our wider Human Structures of Understanding. We will then examine how our desire for simplicity arises and trace how Principles of Parsimony have guided both Philosophy and Science, encouraging arguments to the effect that The World is, at base, simple. We will finally examine the evidence for and against this proposition.

A handout for the talk can be found here