Ockham’s razor, not a barber’s weapon but a writer’s tool

‘Ockham’s razor’ has become a household name in science and medicine. It is used as a synonym for logical thinking and is equated to the principle of parsimony which should be applied when diagnosing and theorizing. Contrary to popular belief, however, parsimony is not a synonym of simplicity. Here, we propose a new interpretation: ‘novacula’ (razor) identifies also the scraping knife used by medieval scribes to correct errors when writing on parchment. Accordingly, ‘Ockham’s razor’ is not a call for simplicity, but a means to updating, amending and evaluating hypotheses, however complex they need be