Rambler #134
:( A sadly accurate description of my years of graduate research:
"...He to whom many objects of pursuit arise at the same time, will frequently hesitate between different desires till a rival has precluded him, or change his course as new attractions prevail, and harass himself without advancing. He who sees different ways to the same end, will, unless he watches carefully over his own conduct, lay out too much of his attention upon the comparison of probabilities and the adjustment of expedients, and pause in the choice of his road, till some accident intercepts his journey. He whose penetration extends to remote consequences, and who, whenever he applies his attention to any design, discovers new prospects of advantage and possibilities of improvement, will not easily be persuaded that his project is ripe for execution; but will superadd one contrivance to another, endeavour to unite various purposes in one operation, multiply complications, and refine niceties, till he is entangled in his own scheme, and bewildered in the perplexity of various intentions. [...] He will attempt a treatise on some important subject, and amass materials, consult authors, and study all the dependent and collateral parts of learning, but never conclude himself qualified to write. He that has abilities to conceive perfection will not easily be content without it; and, since perfection cannot be reached, will lose the opportunity of doing well in the vain hope of unattainable excellence." -- Johnson: Rambler #134 (June 29, 1751)
posted @ 6:11 PM
Permanent link
4 comments
4 Comments:
Yes, but who wants to focus on only one thing? And perfection must be horribly overrated.I find a fragile and true beauty in imperfection. H
Absolutely! I fully agree that there is a "fragile and true beauty in imperfection".
We could fully well enjoy the beauty of the world directly as given without chafing in the grasp of normative beliefs that sees the world (and ourselves) as being "sub-ideal". Maybe this is what you are referring to and I cannot dispute it.
But the tension begins when we know that we are agents who can actually take actions that have effects. So if I see a piece of glass on the floor, I can admire it's beauty lying there on the floor as it adds an element of asymmetry to the otherwise ordered kitchen as it glitters in the sunlight. But I can also foresee that I may (or somebody who lives in the same house) may inadvertently step on it, get cut and bleed painfully. This state may itself be a thing of beauty in itself, but there is also something unpleasant and undesirable about it. So the piece of glass on the floor in this latter sense is a sub-ideal situation (i.e. a problem) and I can "solve" this problem by picking the piece of glass off the floor and throwing it away.
The point I am trying to make is this: in seeing the world normatively there are states that are desirable and undesirable. Furthermore there are definitely cases where we know that we can perform actions to make undesirable states less so.
From the more pragmatic perspective of science where there is an explicition recognition of the existence of Problems, what "perfection" or "imperfection" means is far from obvious....
Suppose there is a problem X and we are interested in finding a solution and/or explanation. On one hand, we could search for a solution that is satisfactory so that X is no more a problem. On the other hand, finding a satisfactory solution alone may or may not add to our understanding of the problem. Deciding when "enough is enough" is difficult to assess a priori and is more than just a tricky value judgement.
For example:
1) a solution to problem X may fail for a related problem X' - showing a lack of understanding of what makes X and X' problems in the first place. But if the problem X' is not likely to ever arise then seeking to further understand it would be an academic exercise but somewhat pointless. At the same time, believing that X and X' are related may itself be in error and the failure of the solution for X with X' may be an indication of this. How do we know which is which?
2) Another scenario is that we could understand the hell out of X but if it does not contribute to getting an actual solution to X in hand, then there is something incomplete about what we know.
Mind you, all of this does not imply a belief in an Ideal solution/unified-view to it all. To discover that there is no such Ideal underlying pattern and that the problem is such that there is no elegant solution and we always need an incredible mess of ad hoc things is itself vastly interesting. But till we know which is which, we arent quite done...are we?
Finally, to return to my original point I admit that all of this is based on the premise that The Problem is indeed a problem. If we dont care about finding solutions or even accepting that The Problem is really a problem, then all of these issues and concerns disappear.
As far as I can tell, knowing when to accept and enjoy things as they are and when to stop trying to get to "the heart of the matter", is itself a problem but one that defies rationality. From what I can tell, two people can have very different thresholds in deciding when "enough is enough". Seeking to find out what is REALLY enough for the problem, and also not just being content in knowing what is enough but actually doing that "enough" is itself a pursuit of perfection - no?
This is more along the lines of what I thought Johnson's observations accurately described [atleast as far as a Phd goes, I guess the true decider is limited resources both money and motivation!]
Johnson says, '...since perfection cannot be reached, will lose the opportunity of doing well in the vain hope of unattainable excellence.' I agree that perfection cannot be reached. Excellence, on the other hand, is attainable.
I think that our quest for perfection as human beings stems from our inherently flawed nature. This perhaps also explains religion's appeal. Or maybe you're just fastidious.
I should think that motivation is a renewable resource.
I guess as the old dude of the jungle would say - It's all good!!
Post a Comment
<< Home