Perfection
No one has ever seen a perfect circle, nor a perfectly straight line, yet everyone knows what a circle and a straight line are. Plato utilizes the tool-maker's blueprint as evidence that Forms are real:
... when a man has discovered the instrument which is naturally adapted to each work, he must express this natural form, and not others which he fancies, in the material ....
Perceived circles or lines are not exactly circular or straight, and true circles and lines could never be detected since by definition they are sets of infinitely small points. But if the perfect ones were not real, how could they direct the manufacturer?
Read more about this topic: Theory Of Forms, Evidence of Forms
Famous quotes containing the word perfection:
“The condition of perfection is idleness: the aim of perfection is youth.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
“Our children do not want models of perfection, neither do they want us to be buddies, friends, or confidants who never rise above their own levels of maturity and experience. We need to walk that middle ground between perfection and peerage, between intense meddling and apathy—the middle ground where our values, standards, and expectations can be shared with our children.”
—Neil Kurshan (20th century)
“I would with such perfection govern, sir,
T’excel the golden age.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)