Unattainable ideals still dominate human conduct.

Evidence

It has been argued that complete objectivity is impossible, since scholars are human beings, with their own loyalties and biases. This is no doubt true, but does not affect the issue. To borrow an analogy, any surgeon will admit that complete asepsis is also impossible, but one does not, for that reason, perform surgery in a sewer. There is no need to write or teach history in an intellectual sewer either. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1864 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

The step forward to the Vedic religion, stoicism or Christianity, which are capable of assuming an organized form, consists in the participation in social activity, in the development of a unified theoretical system. This is reflected in the doctrine that an active role in life is not incompatible with the salvation of the soul, provided that the correct mental attitudes are adopted. Christianity only reached this stage with St. Paul. The idea which alienates from existing circumstances is transformed into religion. — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 179 (#qualifies, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Impossible ideals still demand disciplined effort toward them — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans: Interpreting…, 1864; Uncompromising world-rejecting ideals must be domesticated into organized systems to survive — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 179

Broader Connections

• Impossible ideals still demand disciplined effort toward them #corroborates (0.95) — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1864
• Uncompromising world-rejecting ideals must be domesticated into organized systems to survive #qualifies (0.80) — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 179