CONCEPT OF INFALLIBILITY
In epistemology this term is most appropriately used for the epistemic position of a subject vis-à-vis a given subject-matter, more specifically for the impossibility of the subject's being mistaken about that subject matter. Infallibility, from Latin origin ('in', not + 'fallere', to deceive), is a term with a variety of meanings related to knowing truth with certainty.
IN COMMON SPEECH
When a statement, teaching, or book is called 'infallible', this can mean any of the following: it is something that can't be proved false, it is something that can be safely relied on and it is something completely trustworthy and sure. When a person is called 'infallible', this can mean any of the following: Some statements or teachings made by this person can be relied on to be certainly true, all statements or teachings made by this person can be relied on to be certainly true, all information believed by this person is true, this person is free from flaws or defects, especially of a moral nature and this person is always right. These definitions differ widely. In common speech, 'infallibility' can refer to a person (or a group of persons), to an act of teaching by these persons, or to the information being taught. Furthermore, infallibility can refer to the 'absence of error' or to the 'inability to err'. Although these are similar, they are philosophically distinct categories. For example, it is theoretically possible for a person to live their entire life without ever uttering a false sentence, even though they had the ability to err. Infallibility is sometimes used to refer to someone's ability to 'learn' something with certainty. For example, a careful researcher might study a hundred books, each of which contains a few errors, and after carefully judging the statements in these books might deduce the complete, error-free truth. This is referred to as 'learning infallibly' or 'knowing infallibly'. However, this meaning is rarely used. Infallibility is inseparable from human nature as a result of the aspect of the human condition called self-awareness.
IN PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION
Epistemology, a branch of philosophy, is concerned with the question of what, if anything, humans can know. Some philosophical schools deny that people can know anything; others deny that people can know anything with certainty. Existentialism and skepticism are the examples for that. Other philosophical schools agree that people can know things with certainty. Those are metaphysics, epistemology, reason and logic. In Christianity infallibility is referred to the church teachings. In Islam it referred to the concept of one true God and in Vaishnavism it referred two kinds of beings, fallible (material) and infallible (spiritual).
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