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William of Ockham probably never owned a razor: He was a Franciscan monk, living in the early 14th century, who believed that neither Jesus nor his apostles owned anything – and neither should he. But he certainly possessed a sharp mind, and to him is attributed what we call the “Law of Parsimony”: Entia non sunt multiplicanda, præter necessitatem – do not multiply entities beyond what’s necessary. This would later become known as “Occam’s Razor”. For all we know, he never actually used these words in his writings, although he certainly expressed this thought. But we don't need to prove William of Ockham's authorship to apply Occam’s Razor - just as you can travel across America, regardless of the fact that Amerigo Vespucci, for whom this continent is named, was neither the discoverer nor the first to record their coastlines and interiors.

But to be perfectly clear: Applying this razor is not science, and it provides no proof for or against anything. The law of parsimony is not a scientific principle, nor is it an instrument in the scientists’ toolbox. This razor’s edge is nothing more and nothing less than a straight line of thinking …