Is science inconsistent?

Synthese 191 (13):2887-2889 (2014)
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Abstract

There has always been interest in inconsistency in science, not least within science itself as scientists strive to devise a consistent picture of the universe. Some important early landmarks in this history are Copernicus’s criticism of the Ptolemaic picture of the heavens, Galileo’s claim that Aristotle’s theory of motion was inconsistent, and Berkeley’s claim that the early calculus was inconsistent. More recent landmarks include the classical theory of the electron, Bohr’s theory of the atom, and the on-going difficulty of reconciling Einstein’s general relativity and quantum theory. But over the past few decades philosophers have taken a particular and increasing interest in inconsistency in science. In 2002 this culminated in the first collection of articles specifically dedicated to the topic: Inconsistency in Science, edited by Joke Meheus, published by Kluwer, and featuring twelve articles on a range of topics in the philosophy of science and mathematics.Since then philosophic

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Author Profiles

Otávio Bueno
University of Miami
Peter Vickers
Durham University

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References found in this work

Wandering Significance: An Essay on Conceptual Behavior.Mark Wilson - 2006 - Oxford, GB: Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Inconsistency in Science.Joke Meheus (ed.) - 2002 - Dordrecht, Netherland: Springer Verlag.
Wandering Significance: An Essay on Conceptual Behaviour.Chris Daly - 2007 - Philosophical Quarterly 57 (228):498-501.
Is classical electrodynamics an inconsistent theory?Gordon Belot - 2007 - Canadian Journal of Philosophy 37 (2):263-282.

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