Beyond Humanistic Psychology: Peirce’s Ontogenetic Fallibilism in the Therapeutic Context

The humanistic tradition has long been associated with fallibilism due to the former’s emphasis on epistemic humility and ongoing processes of belief revision. However, fallibilism admits of at least two variants, and those who have otherwise correctly associated the humanistic tradition with fallibilism often presuppose the applicability of only one of these—namely, “epistemic fallibilism.” In this article, we draw from Charles Sanders Peirce to distinguish mere “epistemic fallibilism,” as articulated by William James (p. 19), John Dewey (p. 573), and Karl Popper, from Peirce’s broader “ontogenetic fallibilism.” We revisit the link between the humanistic-relational tradition and fallibilism to suggest that ontogenetic fallibilism more perfectly explains and encapsulates humanistic therapeutic practices. In particular, Peirce’s ontogenetic fallibilism explicates a therapeutic orientation to (a) an open-ended, (b) history-dependent regime of integrity or stability that is realized through (c) the co-construction of a novel client-therapist relationship by way of (d) exploratory processes. We conclude by claiming that if such humanistic-relational practices are characterized by ontogenetic fallibilism, this invites a reconceptualization of therapy, not just as a humanistic enterprise, but as a recapitulation of a cosmological , trial-and-error process by which the universe becomes an increasingly ordered and individuated variant of itself.