Simplicity

<h2 id="in-philosophy-of-science">In philosophy of science</h2>
There is a widespread philosophical presumption that simplicity is a theoretical virtue. This presumption that simpler theories are preferable appears in many guises. Often it remains implicit; sometimes it is invoked as a primitive, self-evident proposition; other times it is elevated to the status of a ‘Principle’ and labeled as such (for example, the 'Principle of Parsimony'.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2">2</a>
According to <a href="/facts/Occam%27s_razor/KG1Bx0J9">Occam's razor</a>, all other things being equal, the simplest theory is most likely true. In other words, simplicity is a meta-scientific criterion by which scientists evaluate competing theories.
A distinction is often made by many persons [by whom?] between two senses of simplicity: <a href="/facts/Syntactic_simplicity/NrPbHNjc">syntactic simplicity</a> (the number and complexity of hypotheses), and <a href="/facts/Ontological_simplicity/KG1Bx0J9">ontological simplicity</a> (the number and complexity of things postulated). These two aspects of simplicity are often referred to as <a href="/facts/Elegance/NrPbHNjc">elegance</a> and <a href="/facts/Occam%27s_razor/KG1Bx0J9">parsimony</a> respectively.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3">3</a>

<a href="/facts/John_von_Neumann/aUk6urof">John von Neumann</a> defines simplicity as an important esthetic criterion of scientific models: <blockquote>[...] (scientific model) must satisfy certain esthetic criteria - that is, in relation to how much it describes, it must be rather simple. I think it is worth while insisting on these vague terms - for instance, on the use of word rather. One cannot tell exactly how "simple" simple is. [...] Simplicity is largely a matter of historical background, of previous conditioning, of antecedents, of customary procedures, and it is very much a function of what is explained by it.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4">4</a></blockquote>
<h2 id="in-business">In business</h2>
The recognition that too much complexity can have a negative effect on business performance was highlighted in research undertaken in 2011 by Simon Collinson of the <a href="/facts/Warwick_Business_School/C1qHHbTU">Warwick Business School</a> and the Simplicity Partnership, which found that managers who are orientated towards finding ways of making business "simpler and more straightforward" can have a beneficial impact on their organisation.<blockquote>Most organizations contain some amount of complexity that is not performance enhancing, but drains value out of the company. Collinson concluded that this type of 'bad complexity' reduced profitability (<a href="/facts/EBITDA/A9Nb5E3f">EBITDA</a>) by more than 10%.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5">5</a></blockquote>
Collinson identified a role for "simplicity-minded managers", managers who were "predisposed towards simplicity", and identified a set of characteristics related to the role, namely "ruthless prioritisation", the ability to say "no", willingness to iterate, to reduce communication to the essential points of a message and the ability to engage a team.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6">6</a> His report, the Global Simplicity Index 2011, was the first ever study to calculate the cost of complexity in the world's largest organisations.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7">7</a>
The Global Simplicity Index identified that complexity occurs in five key areas of an organisation: people, processes, organisational design, strategy, and products and services.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8">8</a> As the "global brands report", the research is repeated and published annually.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9">9</a>: 3  The 2022 report incorporates a "<a href="/facts/Brand/hP6SnDWU">brand</a> simplicity score" and an "industry simplicity score".<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:10" href="#fn:10">10</a>
Research by Ioannis Evmoiridis at <a href="/facts/Tilburg_University/FEqJtlKL">Tilburg University</a> found that earnings reported by "high simplicity firms" are higher than among other businesses, and that such firms "exhibit[ed] a superior performance during the period 2010 - 2015", whilst requiring lower average capital expenditure and lower <a href="/facts/Leverage_(finance)/aLNbPlPP">leverage</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:11" href="#fn:11">11</a>: 18 

<h2 id="in-religion">In religion</h2>
Simplicity is a theme in the <a href="/facts/Christianity/nKyJHlqq">Christian</a> religion. According to <a href="/facts/St._Thomas_Aquinas/h2vN2VkX">St. Thomas Aquinas</a>, God is <a href="/facts/Divine_simplicity/DQYtB3sa">infinitely simple</a>. The Roman Catholic and Anglican religious orders of <a href="/facts/Franciscan/gwohhd4C">Franciscans</a> also strive for personal simplicity. Members of the <a href="/facts/Religious_Society_of_Friends/CQFqeKAJ">Religious Society of Friends</a> (Quakers) practice the <a href="/facts/Testimony_of_Simplicity/s1AopxV5">Testimony of Simplicity</a>, which involves simplifying one's <a href="/facts/Personal_life/0t8clwWB">life</a> to focus on what is important and disregard or avoid what is least important. Simplicity is tenet of Anabaptistism, and some <a href="/facts/Anabaptism/hznb5ped">Anabaptist</a> groups like the <a href="/facts/Bruderhof_Communities/NNz4vwa6">Bruderhof</a>, make an effort to live simply.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:12" href="#fn:12">12</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:13" href="#fn:13">13</a>

<h2 id="lifestyle">Lifestyle</h2>
Main article: <a href="/facts/Simple_living/6e79YAsM">Simple living</a>
In the context of human <a href="/facts/Lifestyle_(sociology)/XVb7A8lN">lifestyle</a>, simplicity can denote freedom from excessive material consumption and psychological distractions.

<h2 id="citations">Citations</h2>
"Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you." —<a href="/facts/Rashi/yRPFhQvc">Rashi</a> (French rabbi, 11th century), citation at the beginning of the film <a href="/facts/A_Serious_Man/XLPChAIF">A Serious Man</a> (2009), <a href="/facts/Coen_brothers/s8MnBqDF">Coen Brothers</a>

<h2 id="see-also">See also</h2>
<ul><li><a href="/facts/Ambiguity_aversion/7Iav6Moy">Ambiguity aversion</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Concision/KPaPwdaw">Concision</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Complexity/KjgY905l">Complexity</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Degree_of_difficulty/Y6DfEhMF">Degree of difficulty</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Elegance/NrPbHNjc">Elegance</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/KISS_principle/eSDN26hS">KISS principle</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Minimalism/BMNlancL">Minimalism</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Occam%27s_razor/KG1Bx0J9">Occam's razor</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Simple_living/6e79YAsM">Simple living</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Simplicity_theory/15IPIC4l">Simplicity theory</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Simplification_(disambiguation)/ouCQXH7f">Simplification (disambiguation)</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Testimony_of_Simplicity/s1AopxV5">Testimony of Simplicity</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Volatility,_uncertainty,_complexity_and_ambiguity/EUzC4t93">Volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Worse_is_better/92TTb5qh">Worse is better</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/John_Maeda/Kc27Tj4w">John Maeda</a> – 10 Laws of Simplicity</li></ul>

<ul><li>Craig, E. Ed. (1998) Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. London, Routledge. simplicity (in Scientific Theory) p. 780–783</li>
<li>Dancy, J. and Ernest Sosa, Ed.(1999) A Companion to Epistemology. Malden, Massachusetts, Blackwell Publishers Inc. simplicity p. 477–479.</li>
<li>Dowe, D. L., S. Gardner & G. Oppy (2007), "<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20081216122608/http://bjps.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/axm033v1">Bayes not Bust! Why Simplicity is no Problem for Bayesians</a>", <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20050711025903/http://bjps.oxfordjournals.org/">Br. J. Philos. Sci.</a>, Vol. 58, Dec. 2007, 46pp. [Among other things, this paper compares <a href="/facts/Minimum_message_length/GqS4Tydg">MML</a> with <a href="/facts/Akaike_information_criterion/RjKKgcnF">AIC</a>.]</li>
<li>Edwards, P., Ed. (1967). The Encyclopedia of Philosophy. New York, The Macmillan Company. simplicity p. 445–448.</li>
<li>Hickey, Rich (2011) <a href="http://www.infoq.com/presentations/Simple-Made-Easy">Simple Made Easy</a></li>
<li>Kim, J. a. E. S., Ed.(2000). A Companion to Metaphysics. Oxford, Blackwell Publishers. simplicity, parsimony p. 461–462.</li>
<li><a href="/facts/John_Maeda/Kc27Tj4w">Maeda, J.</a>, (2006) <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=lh9gRQ4i_zwC">Laws of Simplicity</a>, MIT Press</li>
<li><a href="/facts/William_Newton-Smith/6zQrP8J8">Newton-Smith, W. H.</a>, Ed. (2001). A Companion to the Philosophy of Science. Malden, Massachusetts, Blackwell Publishers Ltd. simplicity p. 433–441.</li>
<li>Richmond, Samuel A.(1996) "<a href="https://doi.org/10.1007%2FBF00413842">A Simplification of the Theory of Simplicity</a>", Synthese 107 373–393.</li>
<li>Sarkar, S. Ed. (2002). The Philosophy of Science—An Encyclopedia. London, Routledge. simplicity</li>
<li>Schmölders, Claudia (1974). Simplizität, Naivetät, Einfalt – Studien zur ästhetischen Terminologie in Frankreich und in Deutschland, 1674–1771. <a href="http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-100184000">PDF, 37MB</a> (in German)</li>
<li>Scott, Brian(1996) "<a href="https://doi.org/10.1007%2FBF00413770">Technical Notes on a Theory of Simplicity</a>", Synthese 109 281–289.</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Herbert_A._Simon/NNHhQ2bS">Simon, Herbert A</a> (1962). <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090310150418/http://ecoplexity.org/files/uploads/Simon.pdf">"The Architecture of Complexity"</a> (PDF). Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. 106 (6): 467–482. Archived from <a href="http://ecoplexity.org/files/uploads/Simon.pdf">the original</a> (PDF) on 2009-03-10.</li>
<li>Wilson, R. A. a. K., Frank C., (1999). The MIT Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences. Cambridge, Massachusetts, The MIT Press. parsimony and simplicity p. 627–629.</li>
<li>If Not God, Then What? (2007) by Joshua Fost, p. 93</li></ul>
<h2 id="external-links">External links</h2>

Wikiquote has quotations related to Simplicity.

<ul><li><a href="http://www.iep.utm.edu/simplici/">Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry</a></li>
<li><a href="http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/simplicity/">Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry</a></li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1">ecoplexity.org 2009, p. 481. - Simon, Herbert A (1962). "The Architecture of Complexity" (PDF). Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. 106 (6): 467–482. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-03-10. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090310150418/http://ecoplexity.org/files/uploads/Simon.pdf" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20090310150418/http://ecoplexity.org/files/uploads/Simon.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:2">Baker, Alan (2022), "Simplicity", in Zalta, Edward N. (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2022 ed.), Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, retrieved 2023-04-05 <a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2022/entries/simplicity/" target="_blank">https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2022/entries/simplicity/</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:3">Baker, Alan (2010-02-25). "Simplicity". In Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2013 ed.). Retrieved 2015-04-26. A distinction is often made between two fundamentally distinct senses of simplicity: syntactic simplicity (roughly, the number and complexity of hypotheses), and ontological simplicity (roughly, the number and complexity of things postulated). [...] These two facets of simplicity are often referred to as elegance and parsimony respectively. [...] The terms 'parsimony' and 'simplicity' are used virtually interchangeably in much of the philosophical literature. <a href="/wiki/Alan_Baker_(philosopher)" target="_blank">/wiki/Alan_Baker_(philosopher)</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:4">von Neumann, John (1955). "Method in the Physical Sciences". In Leary, Lewis (ed.). The Unity of Knowledge. N.J.: Garden City. <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:5">Ashkenas, R., For stronger leadership cut through complexity, Duke Corporate Education, September 2013, accessed 23 April 2023 <a href="https://www.dukece.com/insights/for-stronger-leadership-cut-through-complexity/" target="_blank">https://www.dukece.com/insights/for-stronger-leadership-cut-through-complexity/</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:6">Ashkenas, R., For stronger leadership cut through complexity, Duke Corporate Education, September 2013, accessed 23 April 2023 <a href="https://www.dukece.com/insights/for-stronger-leadership-cut-through-complexity/" target="_blank">https://www.dukece.com/insights/for-stronger-leadership-cut-through-complexity/</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:7">Carly, Chynoweth. "How to avoid a tangled web". The Sunday Times. Archived from the original on March 14, 2012. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120314020134/http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/public/Appointments/article575337.ece#prev" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20120314020134/http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/public/Appointments/article575337.ece#prev</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:8">"More about The Global Simplicity Index". Simplicity Partnership. Archived from the original on April 25, 2011. Retrieved 13 May 2011. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110425220710/http://www.simplicitypartnership.com/what-we-do/how-we-simplify-your-business/diagnosing-your-complexity-problems/more-about-the-global-simplicity-index/" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20110425220710/http://www.simplicitypartnership.com/what-we-do/how-we-simplify-your-business/diagnosing-your-complexity-problems/more-about-the-global-simplicity-index/</a> <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:9">Evmoiridis, I., Brand Simplicity, Stock Returns, and Firm Characteristics: Master Thesis, published 27 October 2016, accessed 4 May 2023 <a href="http://arno.uvt.nl/show.cgi?fid=141718" target="_blank">http://arno.uvt.nl/show.cgi?fid=141718</a> <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:10">Siegel + Gale, World’s Simplest Brands: Ninth Edition, published 15 December 2021, accessed 4 May 2023, p. 50 <a href="/wiki/Siegel_%2B_Gale" target="_blank">/wiki/Siegel_%2B_Gale</a> <a href="#fnref:10" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:11">Evmoiridis, I., Brand Simplicity, Stock Returns, and Firm Characteristics: Master Thesis, published 27 October 2016, accessed 4 May 2023 <a href="http://arno.uvt.nl/show.cgi?fid=141718" target="_blank">http://arno.uvt.nl/show.cgi?fid=141718</a> <a href="#fnref:11" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:12">"Life Among The Bruderhof". The American Conservative. Retrieved 2017-12-07. <a href="http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/life-among-the-bruderhof/" target="_blank">http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/life-among-the-bruderhof/</a> <a href="#fnref:12" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:13">"BBC - Inside The Bruderhof - Media Centre". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2019-10-26. <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/mediapacks/inside-the-bruderhof" target="_blank">https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/mediapacks/inside-the-bruderhof</a> <a href="#fnref:13" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
</ol>

Simplicity open-in-new

Simplicity