NationStates Jolt Archive

Could perfection be described as inperfection? Does perfection exist? What is perfection? :mp5:

Are we delving into Plato's cave? I think some people would say imperfection makes things more beautiful/better/whatever. But in terms of "perfect" and imperfect" i don't think one can be considered the other unless it was perfect imperfection....does that make sense? :confused:

Damn Plato pisses me off sometimes :p

Perfection: the state of being without a flaw or defect

Imperfection: the state or an instance of being imperfect

So no - if you are perfect, you are not imperfect...

I don't really get your argument - the guy with the gun confused me, is he supposed to be perfect?

Think of it is this sense. If no one can ever be perfect, then "perfection" could never really exist, and since we seem to belive it does, then "perfect would have to be inperfection. :mp5:

Perfection: the state of being without a flaw or defect

Imperfection: the state or an instance of being imperfect

So no - if you are perfect, you are not imperfect...

I don't really get your argument - the guy with the gun confused me, is he supposed to be perfect?
I just like the gun-man, so i've ended up putting him on the end of all my posts. :mp5:

But who says nobody can ever be perfect?

And even if nobody can be perfect, that doesn't necessarily follow that everyone else is imperfect or that 'imperfect' would be the new 'perfect'...

It just means that we're all in the same equal state of being with nobody else better or worse than the other.

I believe it is impossible for something to be perfect in all aspects. Things can, however, be perfect in a limited amount of aspects.

Various studies have been done that amount to a person's attractiveness through facial features being analyzed by the brain in a specific way. Essentially, this means that the brain itself recognizes what is “beautiful” and what is “ugly”, and all manner of small degrees in between, to the point where a mathematical description of what is "beautiful" has been contemplated.

But, things like these are measured qualitatively. They cannot really be expressed in numbers, or include a best or worst, but be measured relative to others.

Sometimes I think I'm not stoned enough for this messageboard. Then I remember, I'm out of weed. Time to make a phone call.

I once saw a grandfather clock, made by one of the premier woodworkers in the world. Painstakingly made of the finest lumber available by someone with the skill of the ages.

The tolerances in the joints was so fine that that they were virtually invisible, and it had a painstakingly applied finish, hand-rubbed, that shone like a mirror. The grain was astonishing, it looked alive.

Do you know what he did? he pounded a rusty spike into one door, off-center. Without that glaring defect you might never appreciate the true perfection of his work.

Sometimes I think I'm not stoned enough for this messageboard. Then I remember, I'm out of weed. Time to make a phone call.

Lol - what an incongrous comment

Is that your idea of perfection? :P

I still think perfection cannot be described as imperfection, and vice versa

Do you know what he did? he pounded a rusty spike into one door, off-center. Without that glaring defect you might never appreciate the true perfection of his work.

Sounds a bit like the story about Amish and Mennonite quilt makers: they make complex apliqued regular designs, but each quilt has a block out of place, as only God is perfect.


*******

Question: can perfect imperfection exist?

What is perfection?

Fittingness to a particular need or function (note the Aristotelian diversion here, rather than the murky depths of Platonism), thus depending on the particular nature of that need or function, it is possible for perfection to exist.

Say I want to prop up the leg of my wobbly old table: I grab a beermat and slip it underneath. My table is now level sufficient for my purposes, and thus that otherwise insignificant beermat is perfect for me.

IMHO: The appearance of imperfection is a natural consequence of the fractal complexity of this universe. Without out it the universe would have no definition. The only universe that could be perfect would be essentially a lifeless void. Thus the imperfect nature of reality is a perfect design. Anyway it's only the appearance of imperfection that we see. I don't think a universe that has a deterministic nature (which I believe this one does), could be in actuality imperfect.

Anyway it's only the appearance of imperfection that we see. I don't think a universe that has a deterministic nature (which I believe this one does), could be in actuality imperfect.

What definition are you using here: it seems to me that you are tending towards a Panglossian viewpoint where this is the best of all possible worlds, as all that is, is perfect by your mechanism.