Who corrupted the word perfection?

[LoBagola]

Is there one man responsible for it's corruption or is there a movement? I want to be morally perfect. If I tell that to anyone other than an Objectivist I know what reaction to receive. Who is responsible for making the word perfection, in the context of morality, denote nothing. If the word perfect refers to the non-existents then we might as well say "no one is lalala" because it denotes the same thing, i.e. nothing. Did the word used to have some meaning that existed in this world?

 

Who killed it? Or was it always dead?

 

I think this word has so much power. 

Edited November 15, 2013 by LoBagola

[Eiuol]

The OED says this about its etymology:

 

< Anglo-Norman perfeccion, perfeccioun, perfectioun, Anglo-Norman and Old French, Middle French perfection (French perfection ) state of highest religious accomplishment (c1145), state of highest general achievement (1262), achievement, act of finishing (1360)

 

That's the partial entry. So, at least in English, the usage of "perfect" has mainly refereed to an absolute perfection where there would be no mistakes or a very religious connotation.

 

But the English word has Anglo-French origin, which in turn derives from Latin. Dictionary.com says this about the Latin word:

 

< from Latin perfectiō  a completing, from perficere  to finish]

 

The Latin meaning seems to be more about a completed state, not a state where nothing went wrong. Others could take it as completed and total in a person requires no mistakes ever. It's more the victim of inconsistent development as a word.

Edited November 15, 2013 by Eiuol

[Grames]

Who killed it? 

 

Blame the religious doctrine of original sin.

[CrowEpistemologist]

Perfect is a relative and highly contextual concept like "high" and "low" and so forth. If I say, "these shoes fit me perfectly" I mean they are perfect in that context, which might mean they hurt a little the first day I wore them and now don't cause any problems. In that context, they are "perfect". If I say, "this hammer is perfect" I'm obviously judging in a fairly specific context (i.e. hammering in a particular nail).

 

In the realm of morality, you can say, "my behavior was perfect" and that can mean different things depending on the time frame for instance. If you've stayed out of jail and generally pulled your own weight through life, you can honestly put "perfect" on your tombstone, but yesterday you might have lost your temper and you weren't "perfect". Both valid uses of the term, different contexts...