Philosophy & ThoughtGreek → English
Teleology
/ˌtɛliˈɑlədʒi/noun
Explanation of something by the purpose it serves rather than the cause behind it.
The Greek roots
τέλος
télos
end, purpose, completion
λόγος
lógos
study, account
Literally: “study of ends”
The story of the word
Christian Wolff coined teleologia in Latin in 1728 for the part of philosophy that deals with final causes. Aristotle had argued the whole position without a name for it: an acorn grows towards being an oak, and that end is part of why the growing happens. Darwin is usually said to have killed teleology in biology, yet biologists still write that hearts are for pumping and mean it. τέλος also produced talisman, through Greek τέλεσμα, a completed rite, and Arabic ṭilsam.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Modern Latin → English
- First recorded
- 18th century
Same family
talismanentelechyteleological
In a sentence
The essay slides into teleology every time it asks what evolution was trying to achieve.