DO THE PERFECT GEOMETRICAL CONCEPTS ACTUALLY EXIST?

Nothing manmade can be "perfect." It actually depends on how accurate something can be, but there will always exist some deviation from perfect, because of the materials that needs to be used. All materials are made up from atoms. I think making something in a vacuum would be "more" perfect than objects made in atmosphere.

What does "perfect" mean in the context of the question?

'perfect' means that a square has 4 sides which are exactly equal in length and the angle between two sides is exactly 90 degrees.

a part from amn made 'squares' and 'circles' can you not find such geometric shapes in nature or in the universe?

"Exactly" is the trip word; measured in atomic element length. I don't think it can be done.

Good point, ci. Anything in nature or the universe is going to be made up of atoms/molecules. Ever seen one of the SEM pictures of individual atoms? They're lumpy. They don't have right angles. And most of whatever it is you examine is going to be made up of empty space between atoms/molecules anyway. The concept of an exact angle becomes kind of meaningless when you're looking at something made up of dots with mostly empty space between. So no, a "perfect" geometric figure existing anywhere outside of Plato's mind is unlikely.

"Perfect"
Wouldn't perfection itself matter on who was judging it? The person judging the perfection would, we must assume, be a human. Humans aren't perfect. If a human judges perfection, the judgement couldn't be perfect, so if the outcome says perfect, it may or may not be.

I hope that made as much sense on paper as it did in my head.

Either way, the most we can hope for is relative perfection, which does have the possibility of being achieved.

Armag, I said the same thing, but with different wording. It depends on who's subjective judgement we use to decide what is "perfect." It's all in the eye of the beholder.

Perfect abstractions exist only in our heads (and since we share them with others they are more than subjective; they are inter-subjective). They are "perfect" but only by definition. we do not SEE them in nature; we THINK them. Actual forms merely approximate ideal forms--the latter are good to think with.

yes.
as concepts!

You could argue that our inability to find one or imagine it does NOT negate it's existance. Ask her to PROVE that it doesn't exist.

And I agree that anything man made would *most likely* no be perfect. However, the advances in nano-scale manufacturing have produced amazing results...

As for nature, with all the substances out there, I would guess that there is a better chance of finding a perfect square in the crystal lattice formation of an element than the chance that there are NONE in ANY of the innumerable lattices.

USAF, I believe the answer has already been provided; there is "perfection" when we look at physical matter with our naked eye which is how humans "see." If we talk about atoms, then it could never be "perfect." Our reality is based on what we see daily.

c.i. wrote-



That's the first sensible thing you have said on A2K in my limited experience.

spendi, Congratulatiions for finally realizing your ability to read and write some things with coherence.

Well man can't intentionally make something perfect but he could get lucky. I bet the chances of him getting a perfect 90 degree angle is probably a very very very infinately small #. But possible.

Re: DO THE PERFECT GEOMETRICAL CONCEPTS ACTUALLY EXIST?
Yeah, I've met a few, they are pretty dorky with black rimmed glasses, bad complexion and chronic halitosis. They are usually philosophy teachers.

Perfect geometrical concept, such as a perfect circle where if you zoom in infinitely, no edges etc, cannot exist outside of our mind. Something similar exist outside of our mind, but I don't think something exactly like a perfect circle do.