What is "dysteleology"

Dysteleology \Dys*te`le*ol"o*gy\, n. [Pref. dys- + teleology.] (Biol.) The doctrine of purposelessness; a term applied by Haeckel to that branch of physiology which treats of rudimentary organs, in view of their being useless to the life of the organism.

To the doctrine of dysteleology, or the denial of final causes, a proof of the real existence of such a thing as instinct must necessarily be fatal.
--Word (Dynamic Sociology). [1913 Webster] ||

n. (context philosophy English) The view that existence has no ''telos'' or final cause from purposeful design.

Dysteleology is the philosophical view that existence has no telos or final cause from purposeful design. The term "dysteleology" is a modern word invented and popularized by Ernst Haeckel. Dysteleology is an aggressive, yet optimistic, form of science-oriented atheism originally perhaps associated with Haeckel and his followers, but now perhaps more associated with the type of atheism of Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, or Christopher Hitchens. Transcending traditional philosophical and religious perspectives, such as German idealism (including the philosophies of Hegel and Schelling) and contemporary New Age thinking, modern philosophical naturalism sees existence as having no inherent goal.