Crossword clues for teleology
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Teleology \Te`le*ol"o*gy\, n. [Gr. ?, teleos, the end or issue + -logy: cf. F. t['e]l['e]ologie.] The doctrine of the final causes of things; specif. (Biol.), the doctrine of design, which assumes that the phenomena of organic life, particularly those of evolution, are explicable only by purposive causes, and that they in no way admit of a mechanical explanation or one based entirely on biological science; the doctrine of adaptation to purpose.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Wiktionary
n. 1 (context philosophy English) The study of the purpose or design of natural occurrences. 2 (context by extension English) An instance of such a design or purpose, usually in natural phenomena. 3 The use of a purpose or design rather than the laws of nature to explain an occurrence.
WordNet
n. (philosophy) a doctrine explaining phenomena by their ends or purposes
Wikipedia
Teleology (from Greek telos, meaning end or purpose) is the philosophical study of nature by attempting to describe things in terms of their apparent purpose, directive principle, or goal. A purpose that is imposed by a human use, such as that of a fork, is called extrinsic. Natural teleology, common in classical philosophy but controversial today, contends that natural entities also have intrinsic purposes, irrespective of human use or opinion. For instance, Aristotle claimed that an acorn's intrinsic telos is to become a fully grown oak tree.
Though ancient atomists rejected the notion of natural teleology, teleological accounts of non-personal or non-human nature were explored and often endorsed in ancient and medieval philosophies, but fell into disfavor during the modern era (1600-1900).
In the late 18th century, Immanuel Kant used the concept of telos as a regulative principle in his Critique of Judgment. Teleology was also fundamental to the speculative philosophy of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel.
Contemporary philosophers and scientists are still actively discussing whether teleological talk is useful or accurate in doing modern philosophy and science. For instance, in 2012, Thomas Nagel proposed a neo-Darwinian account of evolution that incorporates impersonal, natural teleological laws to explain the existence of life, consciousness, rationality, and objective value.
Usage examples of "teleology".
The reality of India and Indians was thus supplanted by a powerful representation that posed them as an other to Europe, a primitive stage in the teleology of civilization.
Here is where a materialist telos is defined, founded on the action of singularities, a teleology that is a resultant of the res gestae and a figure of the machinic logic of the multitude.
As we are not writing a teleological argument, but only producing evidence that Darwinism excludes teleology, we cannot follow the details which prove that the wing of the gannet or swift is almost as wonderful and beautiful a specimen of contrivance as the eye of the eagle.