perfection

perfection
A powerful but difficult tradition in philosophy and theology associates reality, perfection, absence of change or eternity, and self-sufficiency. A perfect being would be that which is most real; there is a departure from perfection if anything that could be real is not. Hence a perfect being has no potential that is unrealized, and undergoes no change. Evil is downgraded to mere defect, or absence or lack of something positive: criminality is the failure of some genuine potentiality to be actual, and all such actualization is good. The line of thought is at least as old as Parmenides and the Eleatics . It issues in the association of perfection with self-sufficiency, since the real cannot depend upon the less real. The results are visible in the ethics of Plato and Aristotle, and are crucial in creating the climate of thought for the ontological, cosmological, and degrees of perfection arguments for the existence of God. See also chain of being ; plenitude, principle of.

Philosophy dictionary. . 2011.

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  • perfection — [ pɛrfɛksjɔ̃ ] n. f. • v. 1150; lat. perfectio, onis « complet achèvement » I ♦ Degré le plus haut dans une échelle de valeurs. 1 ♦ État, qualité de ce qui est parfait, spécialt dans le domaine moral (bien) et esthétique (beau). « C est à la… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • perfection — Perfection. s.f. Qualité de ce qui est parfait dans son genre. En ce sens il n a point de pluriel. Grande perfection. tendre à la perfection. atteindre à la perfection. chercher la perfection. approcher de la perfection. travailler à la… …   Dictionnaire de l'Académie française

  • Perfection — Per*fec tion, n. [F. perfection, L. perfectio.] 1. The quality or state of being perfect or complete, so that nothing requisite is wanting; entire development; consummate culture, skill, or moral excellence; the highest attainable state or degree …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • perfection — I noun accomplishment, achievement, attainment, climax, completeness, completion, consummation, correctness, crown, crowning point, culmination, development, effectuation, elaboration, entireness, exactitude, exactness, excellence, faultlessness …   Law dictionary

  • perfection — When a secured creditor has taken the required steps to perfect his lien, the lien is senior to any liens that arise after perfection. A mortgage is perfected by recording it with the county recorder; a lien in personal property is perfected by… …   Glossary of Bankruptcy

  • perfection — early 13c., from O.Fr. perfection (12c.), from L. perfectionem, noun of action from perficere (see PERFECT (Cf. perfect) (adj.)) …   Etymology dictionary

  • perfection — Perfection, Consummatio, Perfectio, Absolutio, Expletio. Adjouster la perfection à l oeuvre, Palaestram et liniamenta vltimae expolitionis addere operi vel arti, B. ex Cic …   Thresor de la langue françoyse

  • perfection — [pər fek′shən] n. [ME perfeccioun < OFr < L perfectio] 1. the act or process of perfecting 2. the quality or condition of being perfect; extreme degree of excellence according to a given standard 3. a person or thing that is the perfect… …   English World dictionary

  • Perfection — Per*fec tion, v. t. To perfect. [Obs.] Foote. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • perfection — virtue, merit, *excellence Antonyms: failing …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • perfection — [n] achievement, completeness accomplishment, achieving, acme, arete, completion, consummation, crown, ending, entireness, evolution, exactness, excellence, excellency, exquisiteness, faultlessness, finish, finishing, fulfillment, ideal, idealism …   New thesaurus

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