Express yourself, carefully, clearly and cleverly!


Opposites Pleonasm vs. Cogent
Ockham's razor
Valid assumptions
Conclusions


Chronos devouring his children.


Pleonasm


Pleo + nasm
     (more) + (excessive)
the use of more words than are necessary for the expression of an idea or thought.

Redundant means saying something more than once, or redundancy the use of repetitive expression to make the point again.


List instances of redundancy in words and expressions.

§§§

Ockham's Razor: 
do not needlessly complicate explanations.

disregard unnecessary hypotheses

Ockham's Razor
 

What
Ockham's
razor
Who
William of Ockham, philosopher
sharpness
When
(1285 - 1349)
distinct
The use of the fewest, most precise, words necessary for the expression of an idea or thought.

Ockham was called a nominalist, the view that universal essences, such as humanity, evil, the Good, or whiteness, are nothing more than concepts in the mind.


Cogency

To form meaning through a focused, convincing argument (cogent) and to get the point when producing evidence in an essay, writing or speech.

Cogency (should convey a valid point) has powerful appeal to the mind.

List instances of cogency with use of words and expressions.



§§§
Valid

Convincing, forceful, influential, persuasive, powerful, sound, fit, hardy, healthy, undamaged, authentic, satisfactory, sensible, competent, solid.

 (L. Validus , Valor -- strong , forceful, powerful)

Well grounded on principles of evidence, or conforming to law, logic, facts.  Persuasion based on factual evidence as opposed to opinions.

Conclusion:
 

Any reasonably logical argument or hypothesis will employ Ockham's razor: that is, do not needlessly complicate an explanation.

Valid arguments should employ Ockham's razor because clarity and brevity support the expression of factual authority.
 
 

So what does Chronos eating his young, as a symbol of time consuming us or time devouring its children, have to do with Ockham?

Simply: we don't have all day to waste on poorly expressed ideas or improbable hypotheses, get to the point and inform, or don't waste valuable time. Time will eventually devour us all.


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