Occam's razor

Dramatic principle that every element in a story must be necessary

Philosophical heuristic to never attribute to malice what is explained by stupidity

The burden of proof of a claim lies with the one who made it

design principle preferring simplicity

Formal information theory restatement of Occam's Razor

Principle or rule of thumb that allows one to eliminate unlikely explanations for a phenomenon

Philosophical study of the assumptions, foundations, and implications of science