If something cannot be settled by experiment or observation, it is not worth debating.
Alder proposed it against philosophical disputes that generate no observable difference. It is deliberately sharper than Occam's razor, which merely prefers the simpler account.
In practice
- An argument about whether the team is "truly agile" produces no observable difference in what anyone does on Monday.
- Two philosophers dispute whether a thermostat "wants" the room warm; no experiment separates the answers, so the dispute is about vocabulary.
- Standing
- Frequently misspelled as Adler's razor.
- Subject
- Science & Epistemology
- Essay
- Rules for weighing claims