Humans are very odd about perfection, I think. I was horrified in second grade when I read Hans Christian Anderson’s The Snow Queen, in which Little Kay’s eye was morally infected. Due to the infection, he destroyed roses and his relationship with his family and neighbor Gerda, because he found flaws in them.
We often make a virtue of decrying a superior and feasible alternative on the grounds of its imperfection, and reject it regardless of the lack of a perfect option— if we’ve even constructed a cogent description of the perfection we’re theoretically seeking.
And in many Christian and atheist theologies, we see the odd phenomenon of people sternly holding a [putative] deity responsible to their human standards of perfection. This same deity, believed to exist or merely premised, is also usually assumed to be omnipotent and the fountain of virtue,
And humans don’t usually seem to catch themselves or anyone else at it.
Thanks also for the reference to “The Snow Queen.” I didn't know it, although Idid know that Anderson’s tales were often dark. It’s a perfect illustration of the point you and I are both making.
Insightful. Especially the second paragraph: We reject good options because they’re not perfect — even though we have no better alternative. A common political maneuver. People — partisans — fall for it every time.
Humans are very odd about perfection, I think. I was horrified in second grade when I read Hans Christian Anderson’s The Snow Queen, in which Little Kay’s eye was morally infected. Due to the infection, he destroyed roses and his relationship with his family and neighbor Gerda, because he found flaws in them.
We often make a virtue of decrying a superior and feasible alternative on the grounds of its imperfection, and reject it regardless of the lack of a perfect option— if we’ve even constructed a cogent description of the perfection we’re theoretically seeking.
And in many Christian and atheist theologies, we see the odd phenomenon of people sternly holding a [putative] deity responsible to their human standards of perfection. This same deity, believed to exist or merely premised, is also usually assumed to be omnipotent and the fountain of virtue,
And humans don’t usually seem to catch themselves or anyone else at it.
Thanks also for the reference to “The Snow Queen.” I didn't know it, although Idid know that Anderson’s tales were often dark. It’s a perfect illustration of the point you and I are both making.
Insightful. Especially the second paragraph: We reject good options because they’re not perfect — even though we have no better alternative. A common political maneuver. People — partisans — fall for it every time.