In playful contrast to
Occam's Razor. (it's actually not
diametrically
opposed, I'd say an angle of about 65 deg. on some axis) While the Razor
says we should use the
simplest
explanation first (as a preferred
hypothesis)
I say that in some
experimental environments, it is best to use the explanation
that explains the most. This may often not be the simplest explanation
-- it is often the most complex. The Razor can be susequently applied to
the Butterknife's list of hypotheses, to weed out
abusrdly
complex explanations.
The Butterknife is intuitively connected with holism and top-down approaches
to systems. It is also practically useful in environments where you need
to get your bearings quickly, from a subjective stadpoint, to avoid going
crazy or panicking. It is also very useful in situations where you know,
on some level, that you're making at all up. Like in art and imagination,
where you're looking for something beautiful and pleasing.
Rigorous scientists would say that the Butterknife is incomaptible with
true scientific method because it is too optimistic and hopeful.
This is true.