Occam’s Broom

A metaphor, attributed by Dennett to Sydney Brenner, for sweeping inconvenient evidence out of view to protect a preferred explanation.

Occam's broom is a critical metaphor for hiding inconvenient evidence so that a favored account remains tidy. The issue is not that every omitted detail belongs in every explanation; useful summaries necessarily select. The question is whether the selection excludes information that could materially weaken or change the claim.

Inspect the boundary between the evidence and the presentation. Ask how cases were selected, which exclusions were made, and whether the same rules would be accepted for an opposing result. A discrepancy warrants investigation, not an automatic accusation of dishonesty. Restoring a relevant negative case can produce a more qualified and useful conclusion.

When to use it

When a persuasive summary is unusually tidy, negative cases disappear, or conclusions depend on unexplained evidence selection.

How it can help

Prompts inspection of exclusions, missing cases, and selection rules that could make a claim look stronger than the evidence warrants.