Fallibilism is the epistemological principle that no human claim to knowledge is beyond the possibility of error or revision. Parameters: (1) knowledge claims are inherently corrigible — no belief is immune to future counter-evidence; (2) certainty is an aspiration, not an attainment; (3) error-correction mechanisms (scientific method, peer review, empirical testing) are the means by which false beliefs are eliminated over time. Originated by C.S. Peirce in 1869 as a methodological stance distinguishing fallible inquiry from dogmatic assertion. Persistence: propagated through scientific practice, philosophical pedagogy, and the institutional norms of intellectual humility. [formal: fallibilismus | substrate: mind | horizon: a life | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.01]
Accepted ontology entry
fallibilism
Fallibilism is the epistemological principle that no human claim to knowledge is beyond the possibility of error or revision. Parameters: (1) knowledge claims are inherently corrigible — no belief is immune to future counter-evidence; (2)…
Definition
Why it is in scope
The human-made epistemological position that no knowledge claim can be known with absolute certainty; all beliefs are provisional and subject to revision. It is a philosophical concept developed in the Western and Eastern traditions of inquiry, not a natural phenomenon.
Names and aliases
- fallibilismen · CANONICAL
Relations from this entry
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Fallibilism IS the doctrine that knowledge can never achieve certainty. It requires the concept of knowledge to operate now — remove knowledge from the conceptual vocabulary and fallibilism has no substrate to attach to. This is constitutive, not merely facilitative.
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Fallibilism is the epistemic principle that certainty is unattainable. Its entire content requires uncertainty as a concept — if uncertainty were removed, fallibilism would have nothing to be about. This is constitutive: fallibilism needs uncertainty to operate now, not just historically.
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fallibilism is a specific philosophical concept (the principle that certainty is unattainable). Direction: specific→general, satisfying Law 9.
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Fallibilism is a specific epistemological position — the theory that no knowledge claim is beyond revision. Specific case of the general field of epistemology (study of knowledge).
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Record identity
- Created
- Jul 16, 2026, 5:59 AM UTC
- Content hash
- ccaa361d4a397f2102d77d80709c9117cadb649136046b58d532a7e3b2d27ab6