It is a consistent policy of harbouring inconsistencies in the same mind.
Thus many of Livy's inconsistencies are due to his having pieced together two versions, each of which gave a differently coloured account of the same event.
That there are many inconsistencies and signs of carelessness in his work has been proved in detail by Langen.
Much of Shaftesbury's career, increasingly so as it came near its close, is incapable of defence; but it has escaped most of his critics that his life up to the Restoration, apparently full of inconsistencies, was evidently guided by one leading principle, the determination to uphold the supremacy of parliament, a principle which, however obscured by self-interest, appears also to have underlain his whole political career.
Fichte's general views on philosophy seem to have changed considerably as he advanced in years, and his influence has been impaired by certain inconsistencies and an appearance of eclecticism, which is strengthened by his predominantly historical treatment of problems, his desire to include divergent systems within his own, and his conciliatory tone.
