On Coherence as a Formal Property of Normative Systems

The paper deals with the notions of consistency, completeness, and coherence within the normative domain. It investigates their mutual relations by singling out relative (to negation) and absolute consistency, weak, strong and trivial completeness, and three different functions of coherence (simplification, integration, and defeasance). The main upshot of the inquiry is that coherence may be regarded as a complex combination of weak completeness and possible absence of consistency and strong completeness of a system of rules regarding a non-trivially complete/non-absolutely inconsistent system of underlying principles