Literary notes about Defect (AI summary)
The term "defect" in literature frequently carries a layered significance, capable of describing physical imperfections, shortcomings in character, and errors in reasoning. It appears in historical narration when a flaw in speech leads to an ironic nickname, as with Michael the Second’s stammer [1], and in social commentary critiquing the incomplete education of artists [2]. Philosophers extend its reach to cover cognitive limitations and conceptual oversights [3][4], while novelists use it to expose both minor personal failings and more pervasive moral or aesthetic flaws [5][6][7]. Even technical and analytical writings invoke the term to pinpoint systematic errors or design omissions [8][9]. This broad usage underscores an enduring literary tendency to reflect on the gap between ideal forms and their imperfect realizations.
- A memorable reverse of fortune was displayed in Michael the Second, who from a defect in his speech was surnamed the Stammerer.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - They said that there was no denying his talent, but that his talent could not develop for want of education—the common defect of our Russian artists.
— from Anna Karenina by graf Leo Tolstoy - No Man The source of every Crime, is some defect of the Understanding; or some errour in Reasoning, or some sudden force of the Passions.
— from Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes - Now, if I cogitate a being as the highest reality, without defect or imperfection, the question still remains—whether this being exists or not?
— from The Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant - This curl was intended to conceal the blind eye, but it made the defect only more visible.
— from Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen by H. C. Andersen - But I—Is it some awful, appalling, criminal defect?”
— from Howards End by E. M. Forster - For that other creatures should be ignorant of themselves is natural; in man it shows as a defect.
— from The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius - We have attempted to make up for this defect by adding to the charts a curve representing the clinical course (Fig. 10).
— from Scurvy, Past and Present by Alfred F. Hess - Influence of defect of centering in its wheels, upon the equilibrium of a machine.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson
