Perfection: Coming to Terms with Being Human

by Michael Hyde

In a masterful survey of the history of the idea of human perfection, prize-winning author and noted rhetorician Michael J. Hyde leads a fascinating excursion through Western philosophy, religion, science, and art. Eloquently and engagingly he delves the canon of Western thought, drawing on figures from St. Augustine and John Rawls to Leonardo da Vinci and David Hume to Kenneth Burke and Mary Shelley. On the journey, Hyde expounds on the very notion and Otherness of God, the empirical and ontological workings of daily existence, the development of reason, and the bounds of beauty. In the end, he ponders the consequences of the perfection-driven impulse of medical science and considers the implications of the bourgeoning rhetoric of our posthuman future. It is nothing short of a triumphant examination of why we humans are challenged to live a life of significant insignificance.

Genres: Philosophy

340 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2010

Reviews

[Callum Iles]

Michael J. Hyde is one extremely intelligent man. I had to work hard to keep up with him in his latest book ‘Perfection,’ but enjoyed tagging along. Whilst it was complex, and contained profound thought after profound thought Hyde knew exactly what he was saying from the very start and the journey there was worth the trip. He cleverly draws from history, theology and even from Jack Nicholson’s ‘As Good As It Gets’ in making his point.

The goal of ‘Perfection’ is to look exhaustively at society’s obsession with being perfect and through carefully crafted argument, explains how this obsession is an oxymoron at best and self-defeating at worst. If we as humans were to be perfect then we would be imperfect, ‘rotten with perfection’ is the term used. In the same way if we are humans were to be perfectly imperfect then we would be ‘rotten with imperfection.’ It is in the middle ground where we live, we will always live and we should be comfortable living.

One particularly thought-provoking concept was looking at the world of science. Scientists talk about certain theories as if they are absolute fact, when really science is only as good as the latest development. There is no such thing as a perfectly researched scientific concept, yet it is a problem how confidently some scientists speak. Open-mindedness to the evidence and to the possibilities are pivotal to true science. Hyde explains in the final chapter, ‘We must not be closed minded to the very real possibility that intelligent design has always been in the microscopic and macroscopic workings of a universe…’

Michael J. Hyde is a professor of Bioethics, Health and Society in the School of Medicine at Wake Forest University so he comes with a hefty resume and as an author of a number of intriguing sounding books such as ‘The Life-Giving Gift of Acknowledgement.’

Complex but fascinating, ‘Perfection’ is a reminder to us all that it is okay to be human.

[Amber]

sounds interesting

[Joel]

“Philosophical life springs from the darkness in which the individual finds himself, from his sense of forlornness when he stares without love into the void, from his self-forgetfulness when he feels that he is being consumed by the busy-ness of the world, when he suddenly wakes up in terror and asks himself: What am I, what am I failing to do, what should I do? “

“... the story of Adam and Eve is wrong: “What actually happened is that Adam and Eve ate snake
in a Chinese restaurant called Knowledge and finished up with lychees and fortune cookies. Adam opened his cookie and read, ‘Here are the equations of the universe. Good luck with your calculations.’ Eve then opened her cookie and read, ‘Believe nothing this man says.’ Thus began the world as we know it.”