What is that quote about consistency being the hobgoblin of little minds?
Ok it was “foolish consistency” …but… why do I suspect that the bigger the mind the more of the obsessions with consistency look foolish? It is because of what I see in physics where inconsistency between the idea of the basic constituents of the universe being particles or being waves look pretty sharp and un-bridgeable. If science didn’t force this on us, who would accept such a preposterous notion? …of course the point here is that God has the biggest mind of all… LOL
So… what makes you so sure that everything has to be consistent? For me this is directly tied to the question of whether reality is exclusively objective (for which we have no objective evidence). For if there is an irreducibly subjective aspect to reality and thus a good portion of reality is simply not the same for everyone then expecting consistency with regards to such things between different people would be unreasonable.
Please take note that this does not change in the slightest my three part definition of rationality…
- logical coherence is a requirement for things to be meaningful.
- consistency with the objective (scientific) evidence is a requirement for things to be reasonable.
- agreement with the standards of a free society (like tolerance) is required for things to be moral (at least in the world/society that I want to be a part of and am willing to peaceably accept).
This only requires logical coherence in the assertions of a single person for those assertions to be meaningful. It doesn’t require logical coherence between the worldviews of different people or that reality of different people must be totally the same. And of course consistency with the objective evidence doesn’t even come close to requiring a consistency between worldviews generally.