Perfektionierung: Einleitende Perspectives

When comparing the different views on phenomena of perfection, using the sociology of knowledge by Karl Mannheim, we can dinstinguish conservative approaches from liberal and progressive ones. Surprisingly, in this way we can sort the field in a new way. While conservatives oppose technical perfection because it changes things too quickly, liberals tend to welcome it as far as it promises to further individual liberties. Yet both approaches are driven towards paradoxes. The same holds for socialists, who first tended to welcome the "new man", but were about the first to recognize the disastrous ecological consequences of technical progress. Where, however, should we locate the current lamentation about the urge to perfect ourselves which drives us towards burnout and depression? How can we critice it in one second while we keep on doing it in the next second?