Fallibilis

Fallibilis is a Latin adjective meaning capable of making mistakes or prone to error. In philosophy, the related term fallibilism denotes the view that human knowledge is inherently fallible and open to revision in light of new evidence. The form fallibilis appears in Latin texts as the descriptive adjective for things that may be mistaken, and is occasionally encountered in scholarly translations of epistemological discussions.

Etymology and usage: Fallibilis derives from the Latin fallere, meaning to deceive or err, with the suffix -bilis meaning capable of. It is cognate with the English fallible. In classical and medieval Latin, fallibilis describes judgments or statements likely to err; in modern scholarship it appears mainly in translations or discussions of fallibilism, rather than as a common English word.

Philosophical context: Fallibilism holds that beliefs can be justified yet still be incorrect, and that knowledge claims are provisional and corrigible. The concept has been associated with several 19th and 20th-century thinkers. Charles Peirce articulated a robust form of fallibilism in his theory of scientific inquiry, emphasizing that inquiry aims to reduce error rather than establish certainty. Karl Popper’s emphasis on falsifiability as a criterion of scientific progress is often interpreted as compatible with fallibilist humility. In contemporary epistemology, fallibilism remains a central stance on justification, knowledge, and the limits of certainty. The term fallibilis, while rarely used in English-language discourse, may appear in Latin-language scholarship or translations discussing fallibility.