Καλος

"Why do you need beauty to be perfect? Do you want it to be perfect for something else?"
- Haig

The question above was posed to me by Prof Haig after I argued, or at least I tried to, for perfect beauty rather than the crass and vulgar kind that democracies are capable of. Defending Nietzsche has always been a contentious position but at the very least his teachings are close to my heart. Problem is, it wouldn't be such a difficult question to answer if I weren't a vain (slightly) person at all.

"You remind me of Glaucon. He's sort of masochistic in the way he defends justice."
- Haig

As a person I make heavy demands on myself. Do it to the best of my ability or not do it at all. There is no in between. So naturally I demand that certain notions are perfect in themselves or I just reject them. Beauty/Aesthetics is just one of them. Question I've never asked myself was "Why?".

While I want to do things well because I hate to regret, I can't deny that a tiny portion of me wants to satisfy my amor propre. Hence in trying to answer the question, I started to wonder if my want for perfect kalos is an extension of this amor propre, my vanity. All this while I've taken for granted that I want beauty to be perfect for its own sake. Could my vanity actually extend itself to crave perfection of notions such as justice and beauty for my sake?

Each time I come to a conclusion, I suddenly waver and feel that the other position is just as defensible. But deep down inside I really feel that I can really want beauty to be perfect for its own sake. I just wasn't sure how to articulate it.

Having thought about it thus far, it finally dawned on me why I want beauty to be perfect. Beauty in my eyes is an entity, so to speak, that I don't want sullied. I just want it to be perfect for the sake of being perfect. Jeremy likens it to a plebeian appreciating classical music because of its form and architecture. He does not like classical music because he wants to be seen as sophisticated or higher up the social ladder than he really is. I know I like jazz and classical because it gives me pleasure. Not cuz I want to impress some girl or act classy. I just like it. I guess the same can be said of wanting beauty to be perfect. It must be perfect or it isn't beauty anymore. Anything less destroys the foundation and form that is beauty or, more accurately, καλος.