Talk:Infallibility
|
|
Michael Hardy (Some of this seems quite POV.) Michael Hardy (It is very POV to equate infallibility with certainty!)
I assume POV stands for point of view. I point out that I made bold changes and I expect that when the dust settles the POV will settle into more politically correct language. Meanwhile I write what I feel needs to be written and I hope you understand I mean no disrespect. All my additions are at least arguably factually correct and again I expect the language to get more dry as people contribute to it, including me.User:Jtocci
I hope you agree with my reiteration that infallibility is an ability, not an inability. It is very obvious when you think about it. People assert things they are unsure of all the time. So people are infallible sometimes and fallible at other times. Understood this way it is better to assert infallibility as an ability that can be exercised or not, rather than an inability which means that the opposite can't be obtained. Error can be obtained, but saying 'inability to err' means it can't, so infallibility (a human trait) should be described in a different way, even if you have a concise/student dictionary that abbreviates the definition that way for brevity.User:Jtocci
- I don't think people are ever infallible, but I do think we can have certainty. Michael Hardy 15:41 19 Jun 2003 (UTC)
If you can explain your view in a little more detail, I'm sure it would be a valuable addition to this entry. One way to do it would be to start a new paragraph at the third sentence and either branch it or expound. In fact, I'm going to add a placeholder after I write this. I can honestly say I've known dozens of people who stated that people were not infallible, but they always surrendered because I asked them if they could be wrong. They wanted to say no--they really wanted to say no--but if they couldn't be wrong... well, you're probably smart enough to see where this is going...
Anyway, infallibility makes the world go round. The philosophers of the world can deny it all they want, they still go to the bank and expect five twenties in a hundred. But by all means please add your POV. I would but I honestly have no conception how to explain the resistance I've gotten on this topic, it blindsides me every time. So not only will you possibly explain something that's baffled me, you'll make the article better and that's what counts here.User:Jtocci