Hmm... This might actually be a major breakthrough of sorts. When I have time, I'll delve into the literature to see what folks have to say about it. On the surface, this seems related to the notion that we just need a good-enough theory to make progress towards a better theory.

It might be the case that folks in different departments are climbing the same mountain from different sides; if people in department A are advocating Big Theory p, and people in department B are advocating Big Theory q, and p and q are both approximately correct, then we shouldn't be surprised that they both have proponents.