the concept of good-enough

Realizing that the formative forces of life are rarely ideal,
an option to how we judge the moral value of beings,
would be to say that at some point you’re good enough.

I want to accept more than i want to demand an absolute perfection.

I’ve had problems with perfectionism even at an early age.
It’s a complex of parenting and religion.

or …

it’s a rare insight so few people possess and recognize … and fewer still act on their special gift … they embrace society/culture’s prognosis … it’s an illness.

We need to understand ‘perfection’ more precisely, i.e.

  1. Relative perfection is possible - 100/100 in an objective test, 300 pts in Ten-pins bowling, etc.
  2. Absolute perfection is impossible in an empirical world -e.g. omni-whatever

However an ideal absolute perfection moral value is an effective ceiling limit to guide relative pragmatic ethics.

‘Good enough’ is always subjective, thus should not be used as a permanent guiding path.
Rather what is most effective is ‘continuous improvements’ from one current state.
Thus the principle is, ‘always continually improving upon one current state of good towards the impossible-ideal-good’.
Thus the 'impossible-ideal-good is a pulling [motivating] force that drive one toward doing good at all times and avoiding evil.

“Good enough” is relevant where we need to focus on some critical shortfalls relative to evil acts. In this case the purpose of establishing ‘good enough’ is as a base standard to enable one to focus on expediting the process to achieve a good enough level faster and to continue to improve at optimal rate.

Example, the ideal absolute moral maxim is ‘Zero Murder’ with the knowledge this is an impossible target.
However in practice the murder rate in say one city is 1,000 murders per month which is critically bad.
However taking into account certain variables which are difficult to change immediately, a ‘good enough’ progress would be to reduce it to 100 per month. In this case a ‘good enough’ standard will compel the authorities to shift and focus resources to give extra attention to achieve the target of 100 per month expeditiously. Once the target [temp] of 100 murders is achieved then the authority can redeploy their resources and to continually improve toward the impossible Zero target.

Thus a ‘good enough’ target is never good enough.
What is effective is to set an impossible target of absolute perfection with the knowledge it is an impossible target but to be used as a guide and motivating force to drive a never-giving-up continuous improvement stratety and doing good at all times.

in a large scale social situation, not all souls are equal. Some are prone by some means to achieve higher than another. This game of giving and removing value is oh-so corruptible. A good person can be called : ‘not good enough’ and then out goes the value of their life.

Good enough for who or for what?

What is “the moral value of beings”? Do you mean that a person is more valuable if he/she conforms to some moral standard? Valuable for who or for what?

Good enough for a sound minded paradigm. Spock & logic stuff.
People like my friend Joe didn’t believe in logic.
But if people were more logical, they would definitely behave differently.

Maybe that’s suitable for vulcans but not humans.

It would be different but would it be desirable. In what sense would it be good?

It would be good in that it would be more logical and less emotional.
But if you like emotions more than logic, it would be considered a bad idea.

Surely some emotions are good and enjoyable.

I think logic and emotions can co-exist. But that is not what I’m talkin’ about right now.

I’m referring to the core natures of beings.
A lot of them don’t get the chance to become perfect-ish.
And what they become is depending on the nature of the causality in the sphere they live with.

They don’t have to become perfect-ish. They don’t have to become anything.

Yeah, that’s life. However, they are not entirely helpless or powerless. They can make choices within their environment. Those choices produce results.

Your last post was just common sense and i don’t disagree with it.

There is no certainty but,

would anyone accept a brain surgeon who is good enough, i.e. with success rate of 60% or 4 death out of 10.
or
to choose a surgeon with a perfect or near-perfect record of no death in his career or 1 death in 1000 surgeries?

Would a theist believe in an absolutely perfect all powerful God who promised with certainty a theist will be granted eternal life in Paradise if any theist merely believe in such a God
or
believe in a good-enough God which only give vague promises?

It can be fine to aim for perfection, which may be something that is not 100%. It is a problem if one expects this (now, especially) and evaluates the self morally through the lens of some imagined perfects, likely contrued abstractly, not in a context, not taking into account where one is, what opportunities one has, what obstacles, the nature of the ‘materials’ involved and so on. There is a strong difference between a forward aiming at development and a comparing oneself to some meme. Even the former can lead to self-torture, but if the focus is on one’s intentions and the problem solved of development and not WHAT IT MEANS ABOUT HOW GREAT OR SHITTY I AM, then it is a craft.