The notions of fault and fallibility initially investigated here are treated extensively in The Symbolism of Evil, and Fallible Man is essential to the understanding of Ricoeur's analysis as he moves from his earliest anthropological inquiries through his theory of symbols and, later, to his philosophy of language and metaphor. Clearly the most accessible of Ricoeur's early texts, Fallible Man offers the reader insight into the nature of fallibility, an introduction to phenomenological method, and a clear and vivid way into the vaster project.