Occom’s Razor and Ridge’s Masquerade (18th-19th Century)

Abstract Did Samson Occom shave? His portrait shows no hint of shadow. In his depiction, he resembles nothing so much as an ever so slightly dusky Dr. Johnson. Occom’s implement of the title refers, in this case, neither to a straight-edged blade nor to the rule of logic and theology but to the precise, careful, subtle, and razorlike manner in which he employed the only tools at his disposal, a shrewd intellect and a gift with words, in order to promote communitist values by critiquing the White power structure of his day even while being a marginal figure it it.