There is disagreement over why theoretical virtues are good for theories to have. On the one hand, they may be epistemic; they may be guides to the truth. On the other hand, they may be pragmatic; they merely facilitate inquiry. I present an evolutionary debunking argument against the view that parsimony is an epistemic theoretical virtue. Our disposition to prefer simpler theories over more complex theories is at least partly explained by our evolutionary history. We evolved a preference for parsimony due to constraints imposed on our evolutionary ancestors arising from the costs of cognitively demanding tasks. We also have no independent explanation of why parsimony should track the truth. As such, we have some reason to doubt that parsimony is a purely epistemic theoretical virtue, and more reason to think that parsimony is a pragmatic theoretical virtue.
