Aristotle's Concept of Teleology
In his Physics, Aristotle examines the theories and ideas regarding
nature of his predecessors and then, based upon his own ideas, theories and
experiments, argues against what he believes are incorrect conclusions. One
idea that Aristotle argues specifically is teleology. Teleology is the idea
that natural phenomena are determined not only by mechanical causes but by an
overall design or purpose in nature. In this essay, I will examine what
Aristotle's concept of teleology was and look at why he held this conception.
First, let's talk about what we mean by teleology. Teleology is the
study of ends, purposes, and goals. The word comes from the Greek word telos
which means "end" or "purpose". In cultures which have a teleological world
view, the ends of things are seen as providing the meaning for all that has
happened or that occurs. If you think about history as a timeline with a
beginning and end, in a teleological view of the world and of history, the
meaning and value of all historical events derives from their
ends or purposes.
That is, all events in history are future-directed.
Aristotle's thought is consistently teleological: everything is always
changing and moving, and has some aim, goal or purpose. To borrow from
Newtonian physics, we might say that everything has potential which may be
actualized. An acorn is potentially and oak tree for example. The process of
change and motion which the acorn undertakes is directed at realizing this
potential. Arist ...