Hitchens' razor

English

Etymology

After Christopher Hitchens' translation of a Latin law code precept, "Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur".

Proper noun

Hitchens' razor

1. A philosophical razor stating that what can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.
   • 2015 October 23, Cillian McGrattan, The Politics of Trauma and Peace-Building: Lessons from Northern Ireland, Abington, New York: Routledge, →ISBN, page 2:

     However, the limitations of a storytelling project such as this seems to be that the notion of validation is unachievable mainly because it falls short of the so-called 'Hitchens's razor': that 'that which can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence'.

Alternative forms

• Hitchens's razor

See also

• Occam's razor
• Hanlon's razor