Inconsistency and the Empirical Sciences

Abstract

What role does, or should, inconsistency play in the empirical sciences? This is the question that I will address in this essay. The question is hardly a new one, but the development of modern formal paraconsistent logics has a profound impact on the subject. Paraconsistent logicians have realised that their subject has important implications for the empirical sciences and the philosophy thereof,1 but discussions of the applications of paraconsistent logic have focused largely on non-empirical areas, such as semantics and metaphysics. It therefore seems appropriate to address the question directly.2