Knowledge creation and sharing: complex methods of inquiry and inconsistent theory

Recent research and practice have led to the development of relatively complex methods for inquiry which can be applied by human analysts. However, it has appeared until recently that these could not be supported by software tools, since the limitations of traditional mathematical algorithms constrained their development. We suggest a model which lays the foundations for the development of software support, based on a paraconsistent approach. Some of the methods available to analysts are based on the SST (Strategic Systemic Thinking) framework. This framework recognizes contextual dependencies, and enables analysts to include, as part of their analytical resolutions, conclusions which are in themselves contradictory. Software support for this kind of thought process would have been impossible to achieve in using traditional mathematical models. Tools supporting analytical work have, in the past, fallen into one of three categories:- those which support data manipulation, those which provide support for process, and those which attempt to support analysis directly. Until recently, for complex analytical models such as the SST framework, only the first of these categories was realistically available. However, making use of developments in the field of paraconsistent logic, it is now possible to envisage development of tools in the second category – process support. Paraconsistent logic was developed to provide a framework for inconsistent but non-trivial theories. Since the early 20th century the field has become very fruitful. Many thousands of papers have been published and important applications in computer science, information theory and artificial intelligence owe their origins to insights gained from paraconsistency. The application suggested in this paper is very much in the spirit of this well established tradition.