Infallibility is the ability to be free from error (obtain certainty). The two classical examples are, "when you feel pain, you can't be wrong" and "when you say one plus one equals two, you're infallible."
Infallibility is often defined as the 'inability to err', this implies that infallibility is a condition or character instead of a description of an event. As such it means that the being in question is incapable of error for the term of its life. Concise dictionaries often give this definition.
There is also a school of thought [help please] that says [something like] "humans aren't capable of infallibility but can obtain certainty."
The rest of this entry deals with the human experience of infallibility.
Psychological Aspects
Infallibility is inseparable from human nature as a result of the aspect of the human condition called self-awareness. It is one of the features that set us apart from animals, and as such, Civilization can not exist without it. In some cases, this may mean that a fact is to be accepted as true by all people; in others it may mean that an arbitrary decision must be made, and then not disputed. Examples include:
Bank Transactions
If one can not obtain certainty when counting out a withdrawal, then all transactions would become negotiated. "I think SIX twenties make a hundred. After all, you can't be certain it is only five, and the customer is always right."
Government
Without the ability to make a judgement on who won the Bush vs Gore election, who knows what could have happened. Realize, whether you agreed with the judgment or not, the judgement was infallible, Bush did become President.
This should not be confused with a moral imperative for Bush to be president, but rather it should be noted that someone had to become president, and it's better to regard the decision as infallible than to have a civil war as would occur in some nations.
Philosophical Aspects
Philosophy is sometimes concerned with denying the ability to know anything at all, let alone obtaining certainty, see existentialism and skepticism. A cursory inquiry will produce a great deal of information arguing against infallibility. The fields most likely to support infallibility are metaphysics, epistemology, reason and logic. For a spiritual slant, see apologetics.
Infallibility, in Christian theology, the doctrine that in matters of faith and morals the church, both in teaching and in believing, is protected from substantive error by divine dispensation.
Infallibility is not regarded by its adherents as something miraculous or as a kind of clairvoyance.
Infallibility is therefore seen as a gift that is to be exercised with the utmost care in the service of the gospel.
infallibility, in Christian thought, exemption from the possibility of error, bestowed on the church as a teaching authority, as a gift of the Holy Spirit.
Roman Catholics hold that the infallibility of the church is vested in the pope, when he speaks ex cathedra (i.e., from the chair of Peter, as the visible head of the church) on matters of faith and morals.
Infallibility may be answer, but it may also be question.(on the infallibility of the Catholic church)(Column)
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