Editing Occam's razor (section)

=== Philosophy of mind ===
In his article "Sensations and Brain Processes" (1959), [[J. J. C. Smart]] invoked Occam's razor with the aim to justify his preference of the [[mind-brain identity theory]] over [[mind-body dualism|spirit-body dualism]]. Dualists state that there are two kinds of substances in the universe: physical (including the body) and spiritual, which is non-physical. In contrast, identity theorists state that everything is physical, including consciousness, and that there is nothing nonphysical. Though it is impossible to appreciate the spiritual when limiting oneself to the physical,{{Citation needed|date=November 2020}} Smart maintained that identity theory explains all phenomena by assuming only a physical reality. Subsequently, Smart has been severely criticized for his use (or misuse) of Occam's razor and ultimately retracted his advocacy of it in this context. [[Paul Churchland]] (1984) states that by itself Occam's razor is inconclusive regarding duality. In a similar way, Dale Jacquette (1994) stated that Occam's razor has been used in attempts to justify eliminativism and reductionism in the philosophy of mind. Eliminativism is the thesis that the ontology of [[folk psychology]] including such entities as "pain", "joy", "desire", "fear", etc., are eliminable in favor of an ontology of a completed neuroscience.