teleology

noun [ˈtiliˌɔləˌdʒi]

pronunciation

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, open source

Teleology means the study of purpose and final causes: whether events are explained by an end or design, and not only by a chain of efficient causes.

source

Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)

Definitions

philos. A branch of philosophy devoted to purpose and final causes: it asks whether, and in what sense, processes in the world aim at an intended outcome or at a good that fits the nature of a thing, rather than only at a result that follows from a chain of efficient causes.

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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)
biol. / hist. lex. In a biological and historical-lexical register: a doctrine of design or of adaptation to purpose, under which organic life (including classical accounts of evolutionary change) cannot be exhausted by a purely mechanical description and requires appeal to final causes.

source
Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)
philos. In a typology of schools: a frame that separates external finality (one being serving the use of another, order in the cosmos) from internal finality (each thing tending toward the perfection of its own nature); a didactic contrast with mechanism, which limits explanation to laws and efficient causes.

source
Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)
colloq. In everyday and journalistic talk: a shorthand for explaining everything by a purpose, for speculation about design in nature, or for a label in debates over evolution and design. Loose scope, to confirm at review.

source
Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)

Examples

The lecture kept teleology as a question about purpose apart from mechanism as a report of laws and efficient causes alone: the first asks toward what a process aims, the second how it runs.

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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)
Her handbook of historical biology called teleology a doctrine of design and set it against an account that allows no purely mechanical description of organic life.

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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)
In the seminar they recalled that the name grows from Greek telos (end, issue) plus the suffix -logy, and that Arct glosses Polish Teleologja as the science of purposefulness in the world.

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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)
The commentator warned that a casual "that is pure teleology" often serves only as a charge of projecting human aims onto nature, with no philosophical method attached.

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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)
She weighed a teleological explanation of adaptation against a mechanical account of efficient causes, asking where description of process ends and a thesis about purpose begins.

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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)

Usage

Everyday English often treats the lemma as a tag for a general theory of ends in nature, for speculation about design, or for a polemical label in debates over evolution, without always separating philosophical, biological and colloquial registers. Precise prose marks layers: doctrine of final causes (Webster), biological design and adaptation to purpose (Webster), and Arct on purposeful order in the world. Name the layer you intend. Otherwise the name melts into mechanism alone, into the anthropomorphism "nature wants", and into jargon where teleological means unscientific.

source

Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)

Webster 1913 under Teleology records a Greek base (teleos: the end or issue + -logy) and French téléologie. Main sense: the doctrine of the final causes of things. Especially in biology: the doctrine of design (organic life, especially evolution in older debate, not exhausted by a mechanical description alone); also: the doctrine of adaptation to purpose. Nearby: Teleological (cf. F. téléologique; adv. teleologically) and Teleologist. Skeat 1910 has no separate TELEOLOGY entry; under TELEGRAPH / TELESCOPE it notes Greek τῆλε (afar), a different Greek root from teleos "end". Wording here is separate.

source

Editorial team; facts: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913; W. W. Skeat, An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, 1910, open source

Arct (9th ed., 1921) records Teleologja with a (*g.) marker and glosses it: nauka o celowości w świecie (purpose-order in the world). A separate Teleologiczny / Teleolog line was not caught in OCR at query time. Treat that gloss as 1920s lexical evidence, not as this site's definition. Only the lexical fact is borrowed from Arct.

source

Editorial team; facts: M. Arct, Słownik wyrazów obcych, 9th ed., Warsaw 1921, open source

Catholic Encyclopedia (entry Teleology, about 1912) in a source register notes the Greek split telos + logos and the claim that the world shows design, purposefulness or finality and that a full account of the universe needs reference to final causes; it separates external from internal finality; it sets teleology against mechanism; it recalls protests by Bacon, Descartes and Spinoza against misuse of final causes, plus an Aristotle / Aquinas frame. Those facts serve historical context only. Editorial definition wording is not copied from that article.

source

Editorial team; historical facts: Catholic Encyclopedia, entry Teleology (C. A. Dubray et al., about 1912, public domain), open source

Common collocations include teleology of nature, final causes, doctrine of design, internal finality, and teleological explanation. Teleologist names an adherent; teleological and teleologically are related forms. Careful writers keep the lemma clear of mechanism as a contrast (efficient causes alone), of metaphysics as a wider frame about being and first principles, of ontology as talk of being versus purpose, and of evolutionary biology as a field where the design debate historically sharpened. Authors still draw the borders differently.

source

Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)

Word forms

Regular English noun, usually uncountable and treated as singular (teleology is...); the plural teleologies is rare outside talk of rival systems or historical versions of the inquiry.

word forms

przypadek	forma
singular (usual)	teleology
plural (rare / systems)	teleologies

Word forms: Editorial team

Collocations

teleology of nature

source
Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)
final causes

source
Editorial team; facts: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 (Teleology: doctrine of the final causes), open source
doctrine of design

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Editorial team; facts: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 (Teleology: doctrine of design), open source
internal finality

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Editorial team; historical facts: Catholic Encyclopedia, entry Teleology (about 1912), open source
teleological explanation

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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)

Synonyms · Antonyms

Synonyms final-cause teaching / final causes (Webster's main gloss for Teleology; historical lexical sense, not a full synonym of every register), doctrine of design / adaptation to purpose (Webster's biological senses; partial range), purpose-order inquiry / Arct's Teleologja gloss (editorial approximation of Arct; not a strict dictionary synonym)

source

Editorial team; facts: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 (Teleology: doctrine of the final causes of things), open source

Antonyms mechanism / mechanical explanation (contrast of final causes with efficient causes and laws alone; didactic foil in CE and classroom use, not a strict modern antonym in every context), bare efficient-cause account without theses about ends (classroom foil; editorial scope, to confirm at review), non-purposive description of process (editorial contrast: report of how a process runs against a thesis about what it aims at; scope to confirm at review)

source

Editorial team; historical facts: Catholic Encyclopedia, entry Teleology (about 1912: teleology vs mechanism); Webster 1913 (design vs mechanical description), open source

Etymology

The English noun teleology rests on Greek teleos in the sense of end or issue, joined to the learned suffix -logy; Webster 1913 also cites French téléologie. That dictionary lists the main sense around final causes, then biological senses around design and adaptation to purpose, plus the relatives Teleological and Teleologist. Skeat's 1910 etymological dictionary omits a TELEOLOGY article; its TELEGRAPH and TELESCOPE lines instead cite τῆλε "afar", which is a distance root rather than τέλος / teleos as end. The Catholic Encyclopedia article Teleology (about 1912) repeats the split telos + logos in a historical register. Arct 1921 enters Teleologja (*g.) glossed nauka o celowości w świecie. Editorial senses on this page are drafted apart from those dictionary wordings. A related Polish noun is teleologia.

source

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913, open source

also

W. W. Skeat, An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed., Oxford 1910, open source

also

M. Arct, Słownik wyrazów obcych, 9th ed., Warsaw 1921, open source

also

Catholic Encyclopedia, entry Teleology (about 1912, public domain), open source

Related words

teleologist , noun: person versed in teleology / adherent (Webster 1913 Teleologist)
teleological , adjective: pertaining to teleology; adv. teleologically (Webster 1913 Teleological; cf. F. téléologique)
mechanism , contrastive neighbour (philos.): explanation by laws and efficient causes against final causes / design (CE Teleology; Webster design vs mechanical description)
metaphysics , lexical neighbour (philos.): wider frame about being and first principles, against talk of purpose and final causes
teleologia , etymologically related Polish noun

Related entries

The same entry in Polish: teleologia

Questions and answers

What does teleology mean in philosophy, and what in biology?

In philosophy the name covers study of purpose and final causes: whether processes aim at an end or good, not only at a result of efficient causes. In biology and historical lexicon it often labels a doctrine of design or adaptation to purpose. Everyday talk may use it as a loose charge of projecting aims onto nature. Scope follows context.

source

Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)

Where does the word teleology come from?

Webster 1913 opens Teleology with Gr. teleos (end or issue) plus -logy and French téléologie. The Catholic Encyclopedia (about 1912) notes telos + logos. Skeat 1910 skips a TELEOLOGY headword; TELEGRAPH and TELESCOPE instead cite τῆλε "afar", another Greek root. Arct 1921 enters Teleologja as nauka o celowości w świecie. The English lemma follows that path.

source

Editorial team; facts: Webster 1913; W. W. Skeat, An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, 1910; M. Arct, Słownik wyrazów obcych, 1921; Catholic Encyclopedia Teleology (about 1912), open source

How does teleology differ from mechanism?

Teleology asks about ends, design and final causes. Mechanism limits explanation to laws and efficient causes. Catholic Encyclopedia sets the two against each other; Webster's biological senses contrast design with a purely mechanical description. Casual talk often collapses both into a vague debate over evolution and purpose.

source

Editorial team; facts: Webster 1913 (Teleology); Catholic Encyclopedia, entry Teleology (about 1912), open source

What are the word forms of teleology?

The noun is regular and usually uncountable, treated as singular: teleology is... A plural teleologies is rare outside talk of rival systems or historical versions. Related forms include teleologist (adherent), teleological and teleologically.

source

Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)