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Teleology in Early Modern Philosophy and Science

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Encyclopedia of Early Modern Philosophy and the Sciences

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Synonyms

End-directedness; Final causation; Finality; Goal-directedness; Purposiveness

Introduction and Background

The term “teleology” can refer either to purposiveness or theories about purposiveness. It was coined by Christian Wolff in Philosophia rationalis sive logica in 1728 (§85; 1732: 38), from the Greek word telos, which means “end.” Yet, purposiveness already plays an enormously important role in pre-Wolffian writers, since at least Plato. In fact, the concept is at the center of intense scientific and philosophical debates in the early modern period. Some writers argue against appeals to purposes in theories about the natural world, whereas others insist that such appeals are legitimate. After providing some background information about teleology, this entry gives an overview of these early modern debates.

Generally, saying that something is teleological simply means that it has a purpose or end. For certain authors, it additionally means that this purpose plays an...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Philosophy Department, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, USA

    Julia Jorati

Authors
  1. Julia Jorati
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Correspondence to Julia Jorati .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania

    Dana Jalobeanu

  2. Dept. of Philosophy and Moral Sciences, Ghent University Dept. Philosophy & Moral Sci, Ghent, Oost-Vlaanderen, Belgium

    Charles T. Wolfe

Section Editor information

  1. Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania

    Dana Jalobeanu

  2. Department of Philosophy and Moral Sciences, Sarton Centre for History of Science, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

    Charles T. Wolfe

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Jorati, J. (2019). Teleology in Early Modern Philosophy and Science. In: Jalobeanu, D., Wolfe, C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Early Modern Philosophy and the Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20791-9_546-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20791-9_546-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-20791-9

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