According to some important philosophers of science, such as Popper, Hempel and Tarski, consistency is a necessary condition of establishing any scientific theory. They hold that all inconsistent scientific theories are uninformative, meaningless or deficient. In this paper I will first argue against their clams, then I consider some inconsistencies which happened at the heart of some well-accepted scientific theories (Empirical or Non-Empirical), and by this I will try to open the door for the possibility of the paraconsistent philosophy of science.
- Aristotle, (1984). The Complete Works of Aristotle: The Revised Oxford Translation. Princeton: Princeton University Press, vols 1 and 2.
- Davey, K. (2014). Can good science be logically inconsistent?. Synthese 191, 3009–3026. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-014-0470-x.
- Farsian K, Hodjati S. (2021). Graham Priest on Reconstruction of Hegel’s Logic and Metaphysics in Modern Logic. jpt. 2021; 1 (1) :61-77. URL: http://jpt.modares.ac.ir/article-34-45297-fa.html.[Persian]
- Farsian, K. (2020). Reconstruction of Hegel's Logic through the Modern Logic: Paraconsistency or Trivialism?. Logical Studies, 11(2), 173-188. doi: 10.30465/lsj.2021.35739.1338.[Persian]
- Hempel, C., Jeffrey, R. (2000). Selected philosophical essays. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Mortensen, C. (2017).Inconsistent Mathematics, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2017 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2017/entries/mathematics-inconsistent/>.
- Popper, K. (2002). The logic of scientific discovery. London: Routledge.
- Priest, G. (1998). What is so Bad about Contradictions? The Journal of Philosophy, 95(8), 410–426. https://doi.org/10.2307/2564636
- Priest, G. (2002). Inconsistency and the Empirical Sciences. In: Meheus, J. (eds) Inconsistency in Science. Origins, vol 2. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-0085-6_7.
- Priest, G., Routley, R. (1984). Introduction: Paraconsistent logics. Studia Logica 43, 3–16. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00935736.
- Tarski, A. (1994). Introduction to Logic and to the Methodology of the Deductive Sciences. New York: Oxford University Press.
Aristotle (1984). The complete works of Aristotle: The revised Oxford translation. Princeton: Princeton University Press. [Link]
Brady RT (1971). The consistency of the axioms of abstraction and extensionality in a three-valued logic. Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic. 12(4):447-453. [Link] [DOI:10.1305/ndjfl/1093894366]
Brady RT (1989). The nontriviality of dialectical set theory. In: Priest G, Routley R, Norman J, editors. Paraconsistent Logic: Essays on the Inconsistent. Munich: Philosophia Verlag. pp. 437-470. [Link] [DOI:10.2307/j.ctv2x8v8c7.19]
Brady R (2006). Universal Logic. Stanford: CSLI Publications. [Link]
da Costa NCA (1974). On the theory of inconsistent formal systems. Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic. 15(4):497-510. [Link] [DOI:10.1305/ndjfl/1093891487]
Farsian K, Hodjati S. (2021). Graham Priest on reconstruction of Hegel's logic and metaphysics in modern logic. Journal o Philosophical Thought. 1(1):61-77. [Persian] [Link]
Farsian K (2020). Reconstruction of Hegel's logic through the modern logic: Paraconsistency or trivialism?. Logical Studies. 11(2):173-188. [Persian] [Link]
Hempel C, Jeffrey R (2000). Selected philosophical essays. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [Link] [DOI:10.1017/CBO9780511815157]
Farsian,K. (2025). Inconsistency in Science; an Argument for the Possibility of the Paraconsistent Philosophy of Science. Philosophical Thought, 2(3), 269-282. doi: 10.58209/jpt.2.3.269
MLA
Farsian,K. . "Inconsistency in Science; an Argument for the Possibility of the Paraconsistent Philosophy of Science", Philosophical Thought, 2, 3, 2025, 269-282. doi: 10.58209/jpt.2.3.269
HARVARD
Farsian K. (2025). 'Inconsistency in Science; an Argument for the Possibility of the Paraconsistent Philosophy of Science', Philosophical Thought, 2(3), pp. 269-282. doi: 10.58209/jpt.2.3.269
CHICAGO
K. Farsian, "Inconsistency in Science; an Argument for the Possibility of the Paraconsistent Philosophy of Science," Philosophical Thought, 2 3 (2025): 269-282, doi: 10.58209/jpt.2.3.269
VANCOUVER
Farsian K. Inconsistency in Science; an Argument for the Possibility of the Paraconsistent Philosophy of Science. Philosophical Thought, 2025; 2(3): 269-282. doi: 10.58209/jpt.2.3.269