Perfectionist motives in social and philosophical thought

The paper deals with the philosophical study on perfectionism in the history of the social and philosophical thought which is associated with the Aristotelian concept of teleology determining an appropriate nature of all processes including social ones. Perfectionist and optimistic elements are correlated with traditionalist and patriarchal ones. This comparison is treated as a substantialist, i.e. conservative, or ideological view on social reality. The above-mentioned standpoint is contrasted with the theory of social construction, utopian, or socially constructed reflection. According to Aristotle, the God being an unmoved, prime mover of the universe is pure actuality and pure form. In his opinion, an individual should be realized in polis which is characterized by substantiality and is prior to the individual.